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Old Faithful Visitor Center set to open

An official says work on the $21 million Old Faithful Visitor Center should be mostly done well ahead of the scheduled Aug. 25 dedication and opening.

"We'll have the majority of our work done by early July," said Josh Mullaney, superintendent for contractor Swank Enterprises.

"But we're committed to staying here to make sure things go smoothly as the exhibits are installed. It helps to have the contractor here to the bitter end."

He said the project he's worked on the last two years has presented unique challenges, including having a geologist on hand to make sure work on the building's foundation didn't disrupt the basin's geysers.

Mullaney said he didn't want to become known as the person who threw off the timing of Old Faithful.

Ted Conover, a construction a dmi n i s t r a t o r f o r CTA Architects, designers of the building, said that instead of a concrete slab, the building has a concrete floor insulated from the ground.

He said the crawl space is ventilated to make sure the building is shielded from the geothermal heat.

The building also has to handle potential fire danger as well as large snow loads, and is built with composite shingles that shed snow but resemble cedar shakes. Exposed stainless-steel roofing at the bottom helps snow slide off and prevents ice dams, which can damage roofs.

The building also has a complex metal frame, and Mullaney said there were many change orders during construction.

"It's a very complicated structure, so not everything could be foreseen, " sai d Mullaney. "And in this environment it's tough to predict everything."

 

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