This week’s Project Build Blog brings us back to sunny St. Petersburg for another update on our project for AquaCal. We last updated you about this site in December, but wait until you see the progress we’ve made since then!
Let’s start with the first-floor warehouse. Reminder: AquaCal is a heat pump manufacturer, so they need lots of space. This area will be used for the owner’s storage, as well as shipping and receiving products. They’ll have lots of natural daylight through the four windows on both the East and West sides of the building.
Moving up to the second floor, the landing is looking great and we think the red railing really pops. This is a shot of the stairway entering the second floor reception area. Moving past the landing, you can see the clear anodized storefront in the new conference room we built. Take a look at the exposed spiral ductwork and linear light fixtures, which will have up and down lighting.
This conference room is going to be stunning. The back wall is unfinished, but will become a center section of stacked stone with painted drywall on either side. The lighting controls in this will utilize daylight harvesting, meaning the fixtures will adjust based on the amount of natural light coming through the skylights.
We’ve constructed a customer service room for AquaCal to serve its clients. This room will have 13 cubicles and will be used as a call center. On the exterior side, the back cubicle walls are designed lower so that the windows wouldn’t be obstructed.
Now, let’s take a look at the executive spaces!
The entrance hall photo was taken from the north end of the conference room. Plumbing fixtures and a pallet of stacked stone are awaiting installation. This is the executive office on the west face of the building. You can see a 4×4 LED light fixture in the center section. The architect and electrical engineer worked closely with the lighting designer to select some sleek lighting fixtures throughout the second floor. In the executive hallway, pendant lights will illuminate the almost 16-foot-tall hallway. The lighting can also be set to soffit (not seen) to be dimmed independently, with the ability to program in a few presets. The east hall is a good example of the areas getting cleaned out, and the electrical and mechanical contractors continuing to trim out devices and lighting. As you can see in this section, lighting was an important part of this project for AquaCal.
We created tons of office space in this building. This area will feature 12 cubicle workstations. This was a big collaborative effort by the whole team consisting of our Architect, owner, electrician, mechanical contractor, metal building crew, and superintendent. But the result, that clean look of the metal liner panel ceiling, skylights, exposed steel beams, and spiral ductwork was worth the effort!
As for stairwells, they might look simple but it took a lot of close coordination and design review to get these fabricated and installed. The orange railings bring in some color seen throughout AquaCal campus.
And to make this workplace more enjoyable, AquaCal added a kitchenette and yoga room for their employees. Our shaker style cabinets were just installed this past week. Countertops, hardware, and fixtures to follow soon.
In addition to the yoga room, the owner decided to include a gym area with showers in two of the bathrooms. We did taller, 12-foot ceilings and multiple windows for a spacious workout area.
We’ve included flex space, which is an open area that will be used for training. The ceiling here is a white metal decking, and we‘ve framed possible future window areas.
The IT needs of the entire campus will be based out of the new IT room we built. All the components will be served by a backup generator. In the executive office
The front of the building has decorative columns and the vertical stucco sections were painted to stand out!
Room
Take a look at some of the other various updates we have:
- Photo 1: The underground boring getting underway for Duke Energy.
- Photo 2: The bathroom floors are complete and the showers have been waterproofed.
- Photo 3: The air handler set and ductwork are complete in the open flex space!
- Photos 4 & 5: The A.O. crew is installing new soffit panels and trim. They are also installing the loading dock equipment and overhead doors.
- Photo 6: This is a shot of the interior storefront section in progress.
AquaCal is near completion! Make sure to visit our Project Build Blog every week and follow us on social media to keep track of this site and all of our other projects.
St. Pete is one of the many areas in Central Florida we serve. Our portfolio includes sites in Winter Haven, Lakeland, Davenport, Haines City, Auburndale, Avon Park, and more. For more information, email us at info@aoconstructionco.com or give us a call at 863-299-4444 to discuss the needs of your project.
