RAW Renovations

Here at the end of all things, or at least this particular project

2008-03-27T03:33:00.005-04:00

The renovations are essentially complete today. The windows are in, the floors are down, the bathrooms are running (hopefully). The only remaining tasks after this historic date are the multiple coats of polyurethane on the floor, to give it a glorious finish, and the words of our young artists to move you through the space. RAW's new look has never looked less raw.

Oh wait, don't forget about the artwork on the walls! In the next few weeks the white walls of our new space will be covered with HUGE art by hundreds of RAW artists. Please come and see their stories of how they reached inside themselves to find the hopes, fears and dreams for their future in the inaugural exhibit in our new gallery space. Reach opens on Thursday May 8th from 6:00-9:30pm. There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony promptly at 6:15 - don't miss the moment!

A wide shot of the mostly completed renovations.

Many many thanks to Groom Construction, Dan Hisel, and everyone who helped make this renovation possible.

Walk softly and fortify with large double doors

2008-03-24T08:33:00.003-04:00

Our aging front entrance was replaced today. Two state-of-the-art crashbar doors were put in instead, giving us an opening for which to make art and prosper.

Two large, new doors.

And the ground rose up to meet them

2008-03-20T17:33:00.003-04:00

Today we saw what will be one of the last tasks for the contractors to complete the renovations: the floors started going in. This process took several days, but the end result looks amazing. Quite a step up from RAW's first paint job using frozen black paint!

One of the contractors hammering in a piece of board.

Finishing a section.

A whole lotta open space

2008-03-17T16:33:00.003-04:00

Hooray! The outside of the building came down at last today. We made room for the new sliding windows, which will double as a giant projector screen!

The boards came down from where the windows will be.

An example of the sliding glass we have now. Just imagine what they will look like installed!

Enter stage left...

2008-03-06T02:33:00.005-05:00

So after the bringing the floor up to meet the rest of the space, the builders set right to work on their next project: Building the stage. After only a day its already looking good.

What's a theater without a stage? We don't want to find out. The builders started putting together our staging on March 5th, and without giving too much away....it moves!

This is a photo of our half-built staging. It is coming together fast!

The assembly of the staging was finished on March 6th. We waited for them to buff out the last burrs and...voila!! It's going to look gorgeous once the stage has been stained, but even now it looks MAHVELOUS!

Contractors consulting on the finishing touches

And so after a week...

2008-02-25T16:04:00.006-05:00

The floor where the sloping entrance to 39 Central Square used to be is now filled in, but we lost something else in the process. The floor-to-ceiling windows are completely gone, replaced by boards.

Don't gape at it for too long though...we are soon to get a massive projection screen that will be able to be seen from the train! Whoo hoo!

They grow up so fast....

2008-02-14T15:42:00.012-05:00

We finally started closing up the entrance to 39 Central Square, the other doorway to our first floor. While it appears to be a long process, the progress is rather noticeable...as evidenced by the floor rising up to fill the void!

Break on through to the other side

2008-01-22T13:33:00.002-05:00

In a world filled with walls of division, RAW thinks we should tear ours down.

Today marks the joining of what was the 37 Central Sq. hallway and the 39 Central Sq. office space. Together, they make up the first floor of the new & improved RAW Space.

But how to tear down the wall...what better way to do that than with brute force...and sledgehammers?

Step 1: you need to mark your targets, preparing a focal point.

($1.2 million was our goal for the capital campaign... $1.3 million is what we actually raised)

Step 2: Double-check you're destroying the right wall, then find a friend to do it with you.

(Kit Jenkins, Executive Director and Mary Flannery, Founder & Artistic Director)

Step 3: Swing away!

Step 4: Pass the sledgehammer to someone else and let them take a whack at the wall!
(Susan Sakash & Alex Rogers Pittman, Associate Directors of Development)

(Marcia Felth, Foundations & Corporations Specialist, and Andy Devlin, Office Manager)

Step 5: Have fun taking silly pictures

Step 6: Let the real professionals get to work

...and now for something completely different

2008-01-21T16:57:00.002-05:00

All of the work was focused on 39 Central Sq. last week, but today we started transforming the hallway of 37 Central Sq. in order to prep for the wall between the two space to be demolished.

Before anything else could happen, the drop ceiling in the hallway needed to be taken down.

Back on the 39 Central Sq. side, we got a bit of a surprise. While taking down the drywall from the back of the space, we discovered there was a concrete wall behind it.

Hmmm... but what was behind the mystery wall. MYSTERY STAIRS!

These were metal stairs from the original building. There must've been some other renovations where a staircase was taken out from the 2nd, 3rd & 4th floors of the building.

Mystery stairway to heaven?

Rugs & ceiling, begone!

2008-01-18T16:48:00.000-05:00

Day two of building renovations continued the stripping of the 39 Central Sq. space. The rugs were taken up and the drop ceiling was taken down. Things are moving right along...

Goodbye rug!

Goodbye ceiling!

Breaking ground

2008-01-17T18:33:00.000-05:00

It's here! It's here! Today is the day renovations began!

Seems so long ago that the Capital Campaign was started, and now here we are... breaking ground on the ground-floor.

Step 1 was to take down the drywall in the 39 Central Sq. side of the first floor, disconnect the electricity and start bundling those wires so they're out of the way.

Lots of wall-cutting & insulation taking-down going on around the space. It was great to talk to the RAW students after they'd looked through the windows and saw all the changes taking place. The air was filled with electricity, optimism, and dust.

It's crazy what can be done in a day!

before

after

Building Prep

2008-01-16T19:33:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow marks the start of the building renovations of RAW's first floor, so we spent today clearing out the space & getting it ready. As you can see, there's a lot to move but the Administrative team is on the case!

Between Andy (Office Manager), Shelby (Office Assistant) & Jen (Team SNI) we were able to get it all out AND have time to snap some accomplishment photos with Kit (Executive Director)!

Welcome!

2008-01-15T09:00:00.005-05:00

Welcome to the "RAW Renovations" blog!

On Thursday, January 17th, Raw Art Works (RAW) began renovations to the first floor of our building. It's been a busy few years preparing for this transformation, and we've finally broken ground.

We may not look too pretty during our chrysalis phase, but each day we become a little less raw, and a little more RAW!!!

Thank you for checking in & for more information on RAW, please visit us at http://www.rawart.org/.

Best Regards,

Jesse
Office Assistant, RAW student & filmmaker
Raw Art Works