CAM Magazine: Evangelista Corporation Article

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

16C AM M AG AZ I N E S E PTE M BE R 2 0 1 0


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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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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


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


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