The coffee shop is located in the corner
of a new building in an area of new development. It was a ground floor space
with a very high ceiling. The ceiling was high enough that with some
engineering a floor could be added to provide additional space with no
additional rental cost; just build out cost.
As you can see from the above
picture, the new floor provides an attractive use of space. The lobby area
where food is ordered and picked up has the original high ceiling, which was
just the bottom of the building’s second floor when we took the space.
The upstairs is really very nice,
with rooms for special classes or events. An interesting feature is that the
space was designed for the average height Chinese person. The distance from the
floor to the bottom of that large utility run in the ceiling is just six foot.
There will be some who will have to bend over to walk around up there. The same
kind of build out was done for additional office space at Thanksgiving Church.
There was one low space in the ceiling that was only five feet from the floor.
It was really difficult for me to walk around in that space. I had to duck to
go through all the doors there. At least here the doors are high enough to
allow most people to pass through them without bumping their head.
The three guys in the picture above
are the general contractor on the left, a carpenter in the center, and the
electrician on the right. There was another carpenter in another room building
doors for wall cabinets using a table saw built out of plywood and scrap lumber
with a power hand saw bolted to the underside of a sheet of plywood. To adjust
the width of cut they used a board for the fence and made adjustments by
nailing the board in different positions.
In the above picture, my concern is
all of the dirt, tools and materials on our new counter and floor. Sand,
plaster dust, and metal chips are being walked and rubbed into the counter and
floor causing an age factor before the store even opens. There is drywall
compound dried onto the floor and railings. Finished floors and finish wood
work is not to be done until certain other work is done, but not here. There is
actually more brick work to be done, which will require laying brick on the
finish floor and bringing fresh mortar in over this new floor now becoming very
rapidly an old floor. When this shop opens this floor will look like a three to
five year old floor.
There is the work environment for a
cabinet maker attempting to build doors for the bottom level of wall cabinets. Trash
and dirt like that doesn’t bother them. They just work around it or push it
over if it is in the way. When we get done we will clean up most of it and you
are left with an old looking finished project.
I found the above picture of their
kitchen interesting. I am trying to imagine what it would be like to pull my
pants down in their kitchen to use their toilet. I am taking this picture from
the front counter where customers order their food. I actually spent time in an
office in Wuhan where the bathroom was in the corner of
the office. The two inside walls were made from floor to ceiling glass. Privacy
was provided with drapes on the windows inside the bathroom. On closer
inspection of this toilet I realized they forgot to install a water supply. I
wonder if they also forgot the drain. I guess we won’t know until they try to
flush it.
I really hope this project is
finished before I leave for the summer. I would like some final pictures and a
report on its use.
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