cam magazine: evangelista corporation article
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8/8/2019 CAM Magazine: Evangelista Corporation Article
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Voice Of The Construction Industry
Evangelista Corporation, New Hudson
has restored a classic space within one
of the most prominent buildings in
Detroit s Cultural Center. With its decorative
cornices and tall windows encased in an
ornamental bronze grille, the long-vacanlibrary within the Horace H. Rackham
Education Memorial Building has been
brought back to life as an appealing study
hall for Wayne State Universitys Departmen
of Communication Sciences & Disorder
(CSD).
Working with JW Design, Royal Oak, a
architect and Strategic Energy Solutions
Berkley, as engineer, Evangelista Corporation
inserted contemporary infrastructure into
this second-floor study space, while
preserving the former librarys Art Deco
elements. The same project team undertoo
the conversion of a Rackham kitchen andcafeteria into a state-of-the-art Hearing
Sciences Laboratory. WSU leases the entir
wing of this grand old building from the
University of Michigan as clinical and
classroom space for both CSD and the
Psychology Department.
CITY BEAUTIFUL
Designed by Harley, Ellington and Day in
the 1930s, the Rackham Building rises acros
Farnsworth from the Detroit Institute of Art
and near the Detroit Public Librar y. All three
buildings form the Cultural Center Histori
District placed on the U.S National Registe
of Historic Places in 1983. All three were
created in the first half of the 20th Century
as part of the City Beautiful movement, a
grand vision to inspire social harmony and
civic virtue through the creation o
monumental and beautiful buildings.
The buildings namesake was one of th
original stockholders of Ford Moto
Company. Henry Ford and other leader
used to hold meetings in the building in the
1940s, said Vince Pulsinelli, Evangelista
project manager and superintendent. The
Rackham Building contains storied but now
unused spaces, including a former bowling
alley, a poolroom, and a large auditorium
The auditorium is unbelievable, said
Pulsinelli . It is like a small Fox Theater. A
one time, the library, itself, was one of the
focal points of the building.
Today, the former library inspires CS
students to excel in the disciplines o
speech-language pathology and audiology
Modest in square footage but grand in
height, the 25-foot-tall study space has a
mezzanine and a main room now with Wi F
access and a host of new technologies
RENOVAT ION/RESOTRAT ION
GIVING VOICETO HISTORYBY MARY E. KREMPOSKY , ASSOCIATE EDITOR
PHOTO
BY
MARCICHRISTIAN,
CAM
MAGAZINE
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CAM MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2010 17Visit us online atwww.cammagazineonline.com
threaded through its plaster walls and
ceilings. Flexible, functional , charming and
elegant, Evangelistas renovation of this
jewel of a study hall has given CSD faculty
and students a great place to work and
study.
ENTERING THE 21ST CENTURY
Evangelista launched the project in late
May 2009 with demolition of old shelving,
woodwork and carpeting. Another step in
the renovation was inserting contemporary
infrastructure without marring the rooms
appearance.
The Evangelista crew worked behind the
scenes or actually above and below to
hide all wiring and conduit. The Evangelista
crew worked above and walked across the
plaster ceiling to thread all the wiring for
wall sconces, light fixtures, operable blinds,and a projection system and screen into the
new study hall. We actually walked right on
top of the plaster ceilings, and sometimes
crawled, to fish the wiring down the wall,
said Pulsinelli. Back in those days, the
plaster was thick, almost an inch-and-a-half,
and the ceiling solidly built with lathe and
black iron.
Installing the electrical floor mounts
entailed a repeat performance within the
ceiling space of the first-floor lobby. We
crawled on our hands and knees to get
under the lobbys plaster ceiling, said
Pulsinelli.
Thanks to the intrepid crew, this historic
room is now serviced with contemporary
infrastructure, including a row of window
shades that rise and fall in sync. The only
remotely visible piece of infrastructure is a
new sprinkler system composed of small,
discreet circles in the ceiling that release and
pop down in the event of a fire.
PAST MEETS PRESENT
The hall is a study in the classic character
of historical buildings. The Evangelista team
of trade contractors repaired the stately row
of tall, narrow windows, replacing several
broken panes of glass and cleaning the
bronze interior mullions by hand with a
special solution, said Pusinelli. These elegant
windows draw in natural light and offer a
wonderful view of the Art Deco bronze grille
covering the window exterior. The
decorative abstract floral pattern is repeated
in the newly cleaned and restored
mezzanine railing.
The Evangelista team also restored the
function and character of the main rooms
original lights by disassembling, rewiring,
Evangelista Corporation brought this long-vacantlibrary back to life as a study hall for Wayne StateUniversitys Department of CommunicationSciences & Disorders.
PHOTO
BY
MARCICHRISTIAN,
CAM
MAGAZ
INE
Evangelista Corporation has establisheditself as a highly qualified general contractor.
We've accomplished this by building anexperienced management team with working
knowledge of all phases of construction, and
listening closely to the needs of our clients.
We maintain excellent communication with
architects, engineers and consultants as we
progress through each phase of construction.
Our experience over the past 15 years gives
Evangelista Corporation the ability totransform ideas, plans and specifications into
successful building projects.
We are structured to bid, negotiate, manage and
contract any project regardless of size.
55800 GRAND RIVER AVE, SUITE 150 | NEW HUDSON, MI 48165 | 248-888-0400 PHONE | 248-486-6426 FAX
WWW. E VANG E L I S T ACO R PO RA T I O N . C OM
The Evangelista Edge is the commitment to your complete satisfaction of qualityconstruction, on time and within budget.
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18 C AM M AG AZ I N E S E P TE M BE R 2 0 1 0Voice Of The Construction Industry
resemble metal with complementary vertica
bands of turquoise and coral. The second is
decorative strip dividing the mezzanine and
main ceilings with a geometric pattern in
varied hues of green. They wanted to use the
cornice and decorative strip as a focal point o
are a vast improvement over the 2 x 4
fluorescent fixtures formerly in place.
Evangelista also cleaned, but left
untouched, two bands of decorative painting
from the 1930s. The first band is the main
rooms ornamental plaster cornice painted to
and cleaning the metal fixtures. The light
fixtures didnt work at all, said Pulsinelli.
We removed the old-style wiring, and then
rewired the lights and installed new lamps.
New pendant fixtures in the mezzanine
complement the original light fixtures and
RENOVAT ION/RESOTRAT ION
The 25-foot-tall study space has a mezzanine and a mainroom with Wi Fi access and a host of new technologies
threaded through its plaster walls and ceilings.
Conversion of a former cafeteria into a labincluded removal and restoration of the
original wood wainscoting andits installation in Cacaces office.
Anthony Cacace, Ph.D., CCC-A, one of theleading authorities on tinnitus research in thecountry, is now conducting cutting-edgeresearch in this newly renovated laboratory.
PHOTO
COURTESY
OF
EVAN
GELISTA
CORPORATION
PHOTO
COURTESY
OF
EVAN
GELISTA
CORPORATION
PHOTO
COURTESY
OF
EVANGELISTA
CORPORATION
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CAM MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2010 19Visit us online at www.cammagazineonline.com
the room, said Pulsinelli.
Contemporary materials, colors and
patterns, such as those in the new carpeting,
complement these original elements.
Contemporary insertions also bring their
own functionality and flair to the studyspace. Clustered panels of white marking
boards have replaced old wooden
bookshelves. DIRRT panels have replaced
old bookshelves with backlit panels,
illuminating the lovely leaf patterns of these
turquoise-colored glass and acrylic panels.
In one instance, Evangelista altered the
actual space by inserting a new dividing wall
to carve out a small conference room. As in
the main spaces, new carpeting and a new
coat of paint complete the transformation.
Marrying the old and the new, Evangelista
worked an original wheel-shaped light
fixture into a standard acoustical ceiling.Of the study room overall, It is wonderful
and incredibly flexible, said Jean Andruski,
chair of the Department of Communication
Sciences and Disorders. The students use it
for study, and we use it for different
seminars, while the new conference room is
used for faculty meetings. The psychology
department has even borrowed the study
space from us for training seminars.
New tenure-track faculty even delivered
presentations in the newly renovated
facility. This unique and newly renovated
enclave aids the department in attracting
quality faculty and students. It is really an
appealing space, Andruski added. We show
it off to everybody we can. It is really one of
those things that sets us apart.
In the study halls elevator lobby,
Evangelista added to the facilitys historical
character by refurbishing the former librarys
old wood card catalogue, a shelving unit
composed of dozens of small cubbies once
filled with the well-thumbed index cards
commonly used by libraries across the globe
before the computer age. Evangelista worked
throughout the summer and finished in late
September 2009 on this distinctive study
space, as well as miscellaneous flooring
installation and painting for miscellaneous
stairways and hallways.
FROM KITCHEN TO LABORATORY
Evangelista worked concurrently on the
conversion of a former kitchen and cafeteria
into a lower-level laboratory. Anthony
Cacace, Ph.D., CCC-A, one of the leading
authorities on tinnitus research in the
country, is now conducting cutting-edge
research in this former eatery.
The room was in terrible disarray before
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20 C AM M AG AZ I N E S E P TE M BE R 2 0 1 0Voice Of The Construction Industry
research for publication. In the future
students in the newly renovated study hal
may be reading research results generated
in the laboratory below them.
As part of the renovation, Evangelista
removed and restored the old woodwainscoting on the perimeter of the forme
cafeteria and re-installed it in Cacaces office
It wasnt in great condition, said Pusinell
but we fixed it up to retain some of the old
flavor of the building. Added Cacace, They
did a nice job. Of the lab itself, Cacace i
equally pleased. Now students have a nice
place to work, he added.
The opening of the new study hall an
Cacace laboratory in late January 2010 wa
music to the ears of the Department o
Communication Sciences & Disorders. Th
project is also a testament to the skill o
Evangelista Corporation. News must travefor the company is already hard at wor
remodeling the Music Department in Old
Main, as well as a lower-level coffee shop in
the Student Activities Building, and an
elevator project in the adjacent Education
Building, according to Mark A. Evangelista
P.E., president of the company. Gaining more
projects is always a sound reward for a job
well done.
RACKHAM LIBRARY AND CACACE
LABORATORY SUBCONTRACTORS:
DIRTT Panels American Interiors,
Wixom
Glazing Glasco Corp., Detroit
Flooring, Marble Sills New and
Restored Contract Design Group,
Royal Oak
Doors and Hardware LaForce, Inc.,
Troy
Painting Skylite Painting Co., Livonia
Motorized Shades Drapery by
Ernest, Inkster
Plumbing Western Mechanical,
Clinton Township
Fire Protection Tri-Star Fire
Protection, Plymouth
HVAC Western Mechanical,
Clinton Township
Electrical LeCom Electric, Inc.,
Roseville
Selective Demolition, Carpentry,
Acoustical Ceilings Evangelista
Corporation, New Hudson
Subcontractors and professional consultantlisted in this feature are identified by thgeneral contractor, architect or owner.
used to conduct national research on a
cutting-edge method of suppressing
tinnitus called trans-cranial magnetic
stimulation. There are very few people in
the country and only a couple places in the
world that use this method of stimulatingthe brain to suppress tinnitus, said Cacace.
Cacace is on the brink of submitting his
the Evangelista team took over and
renovated the 800-square-foot space by
interior demolition and installation of new
drywall ceilings and walls. The newly
renovated space now houses two specialty
sound-treated testing booths (both outsideof Evangelistas scope of work) that aid in a
number of research initiatives. One booth is
RENOVAT ION/RESOTRAT ION
challenge?
We thrive on it!
challenge?
We thrive on it!
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SPECIALIZING IN THE CONSULTING, DESIGN ANDINSTALLATION OF ARCHITECTURAL SHEET METAL WORK
CASS SHEET METAL(313) 571- C.A.S.S.5641 CONNER DETROIT, MI 48213
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