The exterior of the building will look much the same for a while. Inside, however, we find many things happening at the same time. Yesterday they began assembling parts of the catwalk that will surround the Planetarium dome. Today, they were busy on their powered lifters making measurements from the peak of the planetarium.


The main exterior activity visible is the work done on the roof of the planetarium lobby.


Ducting for the air handling system is going in. Insulation is on hand for installation in the walls or ceilings. We also see more plumbing as well as power and data conduits in the walls. This is a view of the office and preparation area on the East side of the building.

240K jpeg

I arrived during break time today, so things look very quiet. The panorama above suffers from the usual problems of digital stitching, but gives about a 180 degree view of the auditorium floor. More plumbing, electrical, insulation, and interior panels are going in. The scissors lifts were used yesterday to make measurements of the roof beams in preparation for putting on the roof sheeting a few days from now.

Hidden behind the scissors lift are the partially assembled pieces of the catwalk. The catwalk was measured and partly assembled on the planetarium floor two days ago to make sure it was exactly the right size for later installation.


This corner of the building has janitorial closet and the electrical room. I'll have to ask what all these big black pipes are going to. (They are drain lines from the roof.) Looking down the hall on the West side of the building we see that the ceiling insulation has gone in.

Now we know why they were making all those measurements on the roof. The rafters started going in today. I get nervous half-way up my stepladder at home, but felt absolutely calm as I stayed firmly on the ground and photographed these workers climbing all over the structure. Once the rafters are all cut and put into place they will cover the roof with more panels. The copper cladding will be special ordered to fit the roof exactly as constructed, and will take around 10 weeks to arrive.


The curved back wall of the auditorium can be see in the stitched panorama above. At the right we can see more electrical fittings going into the preparation room.

More of the roof is now in place. I caught a picture of the moon peeking over the shoulder of Dean West on the roof. This is probably the last time the real moon will be visible from the floor of the Downing Planetarium.



On the floor of the lobby we see the positions marked out for the lights that will be in the suspended lobby ceiling.




Several crafts are working at the same time. We see the electrical, plumbing and ducting all going in as the roof rafters are put into place.

I didn't get over to the site today, but when I arrived at my office at 9 am, the rafters were all up. Just before noon, a large number of the roof panels had been installed. These guys are fast!

Almost all of the roof panels are now in place. The inside of the Downing Planetarium is starting to get dark. A few seats, the dome and a star projector and we will be in business. Well, maybe a few more things than that are left.