-by Sea-Jay Van der Ploeg- While glancing out the window during class, you may have noticed the tall steel prongs growing out of the construction site. Yes, the construction project is well under way. Here is a quick by-the-numbers update of what has happened in the past month:

The project passed The Boston Redevelopment Authority (Boston’s housing and commercial development agency) approval process. In order to achieve this step, the construction/design team created miniature mockups of the building’s exterior design with features down to the last detail.

The crew strengthened the building’s foundation by pouring in 220 cubic yards of concrete foundation walls, an amount capable of  filling  22 concrete trucks. This concrete was placed into the foundation of the new building and into the connection area between the old building and new facilities. Finally, the walls were waterproofed in order to shield them from moisture. Concrete was poured recently onto the first floor.

The crew also placed one giant water tank in the basement. The large tank, which filled the entire trailer of a loading truck, was lifted carefully over the structure and into the basement area. The tank will be used to collect rainwater, which will be either irrigated (used to nourish the soil) or reused  to balance the water table (ground water) level.

So far, the crew has used  600 pieces of steel to create the building’s new beams, posts, and decking, and 40,000 square feet of decking is necessary to  hold the steel structure in place. To put this in perspective, this 40,000 square feet of decking is equivalent to about 110 times an average Winsor classroom.

Despite its current towering height, the building still has about  two floors to go! The truss (zig zag piece of steel) of the current structure is almost the full height of the gym, which completes the third story of the building’s eventual five stories. The entire structure should be completed before the end of February; upon completion, it will be wrapped in plastic in order to heat the interior and to prepare for the next construction steps.

During the week of February 10, there will be a beam-signing event for the Winsor community. Before the final beam is put in place, it will be painted white for students to sign their names.

The building’s growth has already progressed rapidly, and Winsor looks forward to watching further developments  as the rest of the building goes up!