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Warming the Icehouse Blog

A Pleasing Palette

July 21, 2008

Here is a first look at the accent wall colors that were just added to the second floor offices. Each office features a different warm and cozy color.

The windows shown here were popped out of the boardroom walls last week allowing light to pour in off Oakes Street. You can also see the final part of the roof being sawed off making way for the second connecting bridge, which will go through the main lobby.

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Rollers ready, painting starts today!

July 14, 2008

With the drywall in place and the sanding near complete on the second floor, the first strokes of paint are going up today. This is just a base coat of white primer, but it certainly adds a little something to the space. Paint fumes will continue to replace the subtle smell of hay and horses that linger in the building when it is damp.

On the east side of the building, what used to be a chunk of open rooftop space, has been replaced with a fully enclosed and drywalled bridge. It is incredible to see and fun to walk across for the first time.

The major transformation of the lobby is yet to come. Currently, the lobby looks like the heart of the construction with arteries of electricity and other tubing winding every which way.

Please check out these new pictures of the future home of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. If you have some time, please also listen to or download the newest podcast in which Foundation President Diana Sieger answers some of the frequently asked question about the building. Access the podcast by clicking here.

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What a difference a week makes!

July 1, 2008

The offices are mostly drywalled, the roof is being torn up for a catwalk/bridge and you can finally walk on a bridge from the second floor office to the old hayloft area. This new area (which was formerly only accessible by a ladder) is now large work area, and a quiet place/kids room for when we need to bring our children to work.

We are also excited to be working with the UICA ArtWorks program and artists Michael Pfleghaar and Israel Davis on some very wonderful artwork for our new home. We also have finalized designs for a very cool donor recognition stabile that will be in our upper lobby. Xibitz is doing the work for us.

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Up on the Roof

June 23, 2008

We are excited to show readers these shots (by Brian Kelly) of the roof of the new Community Foundation offices. The structure you see in the right quadrant is a covered bridge that connects two parts of the building. The icehouse is really several structures within one building and there are multiple levels of non-connected space to manage. While one option would be to ramp from place to place, the designers thought it would be more interesting and a better use of space to build bridges to connect areas.

Brian took these pictures from the roof of the building across the street at 100 Grandville Avenue.

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Not easy being green...

June 19, 2008

We had to take this opportunity to borrow a line from Kermit the Frog.

As you can see from the images, the walls of the Community Foundation building are being covered with green insulation. We know what you’re thinking…What? You are covering up all that exposed brick?

Yes, it is true. In order for the building to meet LEED certification, the inside exterior brick walls need to be insulated. As much as we personally love the exposed brick, we have to create an energy efficient building. So in goes the insulation and up goes the dry wall. Luckily, we have plenty of exposed brick on interior walls so that feel of the building will remain.

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