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Migration: Theory and Practice of
Disassembling & Moving
ConDome
Theory:
We're gonna do it together. Practice:
U want it done, u DIY it!
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Disassembly
9
May 2008: I got really excited about moving the ConDome
to Suriana especially when the LCK "corporate" meeting we had in the
morning suggested that it be
assembled at Suriana Gardens ASAP. That afternoon, I brought my kids (Son 4, Son 5) to
the site and unscrewed one strut
below one of the pentagons (according to Suhairi earlier, as
a symbolic gesture "to release the spirit trapped
below the dome," haha).
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Day 1, 10 May 2008
(Saturday): This the official start date of
ConDome's disassembly by the Suriana Team. Suhairi
came by at 8:00am. We unscrewed a few struts while
he expressed his skepticism of disassembling ConDome
from bottom-up. There was also some sort of a disapproval for using a 10mm
spanner to unbolt and a screwdriver to hold the nuts,
and without WD40! Anyway, he took some pictures and
suddenly it was time to leave.
We had to catch the 9:30am train to
Hotel Bellevue for the in-house Asli Training
at 11:00am.
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11 May 2008 (Off
Day): I took off more struts in the
morning. In the afternoon, Akir (Son 4) dropped by
after his school to lend his helping hand, but
he unnecessarily hurt himself, falling down from the plastic table.
Anyway, we got to the
point when all struts below the five pentagons
(except for the top one) were removed.
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Day 2, 12 May 2008
(Monday): I unscrewed the connector nuts one by one in a
perambulatory manner. At 9am I SMSed Hanif to let
the meeting know that I was on-site. He asked if
Suhairi was with me, nope.
Then there was a wobble
and twist and the dome came one layer down. And
it sat nicely on the ring below, although some
sections buckled in and out.
The connectors were
distorted, as expected. Later in the day,
Suhairi called to ask "Are you at the dome?"
Mmm.
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Day 3, 13 May 2008: More
struts were detached from the connectors and they
were grouped together.
There was one strut
which was all rusty. But almost all need anti-rust
and a new finishing.
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Day 4, 14 May 2008:
Nice morning but it was already hot at 9:30am.
Went online indoor and felt chilly, out in the sun
at 10:30am it was OK till lunch. Continued until 6pm
with two layers down.
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Day 5, 15 May 2008:
Hardly 2 struts removed, and it rained! Told Hanif I was
gonna go online (here I am) and get cracking on 217
(another design to clear up for finalization).
"Good to have alternatives," said Hanif. Haha,
our work down the line are no alternatives, they are
just screaming, "finish us up, finish us up!" Then the rained stopped
and the spanners were ready to move again. ConDome
was barely visible from afar, a little squashed when
near.
I received an sms
from Suhairi, "got problem with the dome?"
Again,
mmm. Anyway I replied, "Haha, what are u asking about? Why
do u ask?" By 11:00,
there's a bit more disassembling to do. The pile of
struts to be separated from the connectors grew
bigger.
Just before lunch,
another section of the dome came down... bon apetit!
And by the end of the day it was like this.
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Day 6, 16 May 2008:
The remains of the dome was approached from a different
angle this morning.
It was
decided that the disassembly would be continued,
because it was low, from top-down now. The first
thing was to get the pentagonal centerpiece- the
dome cap was gone. More unscrewing until it hit ground zero.
Encik
Zulkifli of the HBP Library came by, most of the
pieces were all over the place. A little later I got an
sms from Suhairi who apologized for not helping
with the disassembly because he was "slighted with
what I said", whatever that meant. Very convenient! Friday break...
In the
afternoon, more unscrewing took place. Akir was
there to help out. At the end of the day...
We'd probably wrap up the whole lot, get it trucked to
Suriana Monday or as soon as the USM truck was made
available.
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Day 7, 17 May 2008: Went to site only
in the afternoon as the morning was spent at Hotel
Bellevue. There is still one main-piece. By the end
of the day, there was still another part left.
There is something
else which must be handled, the bottom ring struts.
which are
almost buried in the ground.
The way to
retrieve them must be devised.
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Day 8, 18 May 2008: The
"penggali" was used to dig up the buried
components.
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Day
9, 19 May 2008 (Vesak):
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Day 10,
20 May 2008: All
components (including the deformed struts and
connectors) were placed under the red fire
staircase. The USM truck would be made available
on 29th May. USM finally called to say that no
lorry was available.
Plan
B was to have Suriana transport all
components on Saturday 24 May, 09:00am.
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Moving
ConDome to Suriana
FINAL
DAY, Day 11, 24 May 2008: The
Suriana lorry arrived on site at 9:28am, parked
quite a distance away from the dome pack.
After
the first round of carrying the connectors, the
driver decided to bring it closer.
Strut
bundles were brought to the ledge and they got
lifted onto the truck, followed finally by the
connectors and they were all transported to Suriana
Gardens.
We
arrived at Suriana Gardens at 10:30am, welcomed by a
team of Surianites who were collecting ginger,
presumably for the end-of-the-month Sunday market.
Having found two pieces of wood as the base to put
the struts on, they were then tangentially placed
next to the Temiar hut.
As soon
as that was done, the Suriananites transferred the
content of the lorry on to the base.
All in
six minutes! Datuk
Seri dropped in to ensure that the transfer was
properly done. He remarked that the pile would need
to be relocated so as not to attract the "big
eyes". Suhairi was there too.
At
10:39am, the migration of ConDome from USM to
Suriana, in just over an hour, was completed.
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NB:
"Salam en wan. saya minta maaf sekali lagi
sbb tak tolong buka dome. kalu en wan tak dapat
maafkan tak mengapa. saya pun sanggup pasang dome
sendiri." Sender Suhairi, Message Centre:
+60193900000, Sent 23-May-2008, 02:20:01. |
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