The Fairweather and other condos on S. Harrington

This is a pretty fresh pic and probably has never been posted in this forum, ever! I hope you all enjoy!

Beautiful pavers being set outside the commercial space on the corner of West and Lenoir.

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Just make sure that you never post that picture again! :rofl:

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I was going to wait for at least 5 more pavers to be laid.

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Why is there no watermark? :wink:

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Look closer. I really donā€™t want anyone taking this picture from me. Look at how the sun is shining, and the blue sky, and the workers all putting in 100% effort on the pavers. I mean itā€™s pretty special.

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If you look closely youā€™ll notice 2 new screws since my last pics.

But seriously, this was to highlight the progress on the sidewalk/street experience on West/Lenoir.

The downtown money shot.

Lenoir St and Harrington St progress.

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That second picture is a fantastic shot of downtown! Iā€™m going to put a watermark on it before you steal it.

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Drove through tonight, much more impressive in person, looks wonderful.

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Iā€™m still digginā€™ that western facade!

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Nice pics
Did the condo charge penthouse folks extra for the balcony facing the power line 10 feet away? Lol
A shame they didnā€™t bury that sucker. Guess there was no way to put the tower up on the roof somehow like a cell phone tower?

Okay dumb question: Why did they put gravel on the roof instead of leaving it as built?

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Iā€™m digging all the facades tbh! This building doesnā€™t seem to have a bad side. Iā€™m actually really impressed by the end result; thereā€™s a lot of depth and texture to the exterior, and itā€™s refreshing to see something dynamic, rather than a flat facade with tacked on balconies. Itā€™s much more complex than Iā€™d anticipated from the renderings.

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Right? Thereā€™s nothing worse that lifeboat balconies. Itā€™s why I canā€™t stand PNC and 222 Glenwood.

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Gravel is used to hold down the membrane that is the actual waterproof part of roof. Without the gravel it could be damaged by high winds if there is even a small edge of the waterproofing gets loose. It also protects the membrane from sun damage, so makes it last longer.

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I feel like all of Miami is those kind of balconies. It never really bothered me on PNC because I moved here right as it was finishing up, so I took it for granted.

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Itā€™s called ballast. I learned the term on here just this week! Weird how that works out. I guessed at the reason why, but you explained it very well. Thanks for that! :+1:

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Some Miami buildings, yes.
Other Miami buildings use the balconies as a design feature. Those buildings go beyond just having little rectangle balconies with metal railings.
Example:

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What @scotchman and @GucciLittlePig said, but hereā€™s a bit more detail. Gravel ballasting is pretty uncommon these days in my (short) experience. At least at our office, roof assemblies are typically steel decking or concrete > rigid insulation > coverboard > single-ply roofing membrane. So really, thereā€™s not anything actually holding all that insulation or the roofing membrane down, making it susceptible to wind.

Thereā€™s a few methods that are used to hold the roofing in place. 1) with a fully adhered roof, the membrane is adhered to the insulation, which is mechanically fastened to the roof structure. Since the insulation is whatā€™s holding the roofing membrane down, they have to use a lot more fasteners. This is the most expensive system, but itā€™s seamless. 2) Alternatively, the membrane can be mechanically fastened to the insulation, in which case there are penetrations in the roofing membrane. They then have to tape over the penetrations and seal the seams at these areas. 3) Gravel ballasting, as I understand it, weighs the membrane down without having to adhere or fasten/seal it. This reduces time and cost, and also doubles as an extra layer of protection. Iā€™d imagine in this case it was either a cost saving or a maintenance thing.

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Next step up: Jeanne Gang-style balconies :sweat_smile:

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Iā€™m completely in support of these

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Ballast also becomes projectiles in high wind situations. And, when it comes time to re-roof, you either have to remove it or shove it around. Iā€™m surprised they used it at the Fairweather.