Sharp lookouts who have driven by the Hazelnut Inn property have probably noticed a bunch of new surveyor's pegs and flags in the last week. The pegs are show the locations of the building that is soon to begin. Things are about to change in a big way! The ground preparations are set to begin next week. The septic and drainage fields will be the first to be installed. The organic soil will be then removed from under the building site and will be replaced with coarse engineered gravel. All of this work needs to be done in order to get ready for construction which is due to start soon and very soon. It's going to be exciting!
Each element and every feature found at the Hazelnut Inn will faithfully tell one of our suite's stories. However, rather than words, visual details will hint at these tales.
According to legend, the North Star's intrepid explorer has somehow found herself in possession of architectural artifacts from around the world and built her estate around them. Lamentably, her journeys have left little time for mundane tasks such as maintaining the grounds. Thus, the garden is in some disrepair. Our guests will be able to explore the garden and discover many of these half forgotten relics.
For instance, a large obelisk is on display in the explorer's garden. The obelisk was undoubtably acquired in a mythical land somewhere in the mid-east and sobered some war and tear on its journeys. When this tall stone relic was reassembled, the pieces didn't quite line up. And unfortunately, not enough effort was put into the foundation. The necessary repairs were makeshift: a large steel bracket was anchored into the precious stone artifact. Still leaning badly, the obelisk eventually succumbed to gravity and tumbled over. It still lays there to this day. The steel bracket is twisted and broken, its anchors pulled roughly from the upper stone. All that remains are the rust marks from the iron brackets.
All these details are purposefully crafted into the feature. The steel is artfully bent and welded in place. The concrete is hand carved to look like stone. The paint is skillfully applied to mimic rust and weathering. Each piece of the obelisk will be carefully placed as it tumbled haphazardly into the garden. The top two portions of the obelisk will act as a bench on which our guests can sit and take it all in.
Our giant stone head received his final dry brushing this week. He is going to be a thing of beauty when he is finally tucked into his garden bed!
In-between all the other projects being built at the Imagination Corporation these days, we have been finding time to finish off a few features for the inn. The Atlantis stone is now complete. Once it is set in the ground with vines growing up one side, it will look like it is a thousand years old.
Much of the work we are doing on the Hazelnut inn will never be seen by our guests. The features simply need to look like they grew there. The Under Hill suite will have a giant tree 'growing' on its green roof. A skylight will be tucked between the twisted roots. This feature has a lot of hidden engineering and work inside. The roof of the suite will be cast from thick concrete with an opening and short pony walls around it. The tree will sit over this opening. We first welded up a heavy plate steel structural flashing. The tree structure was then securely welded to this flashing. Quarter inch pencil rod is hand formed and welded into a grid in the shape of the tree. Rocks and twisted roots are all hand formed and welded into place as well. After this flashing gets a couple of coats of paint to prevent rusting the crew will carefully tie galvanized lath over this framework. Then we will trowel on our special mix of fibreglass reinforced concrete and sculpt the tree details in painstaking detail. When the building concrete has been poured in coming months we will have a giant crane lift the tree into place. Greenery will be planted all around it. It will instantly look like it has been growing there forever.
