The Big Red Crane

I feel I would be remiss to not blog about The Big Red Crane and all that it signifies. I actually took these photos a month or so after it was first erected (sometime in October, I think).

This is The Big Red Crane as seen from our kitchen window. The crane has become a permanent fixture on The University of Aberdeen campus. Namely, at the site of the new library that is being built. You get a sense for how tall the crane is since our flat is almost entirely uphill from campus and on the (U.S.) 3rd floor. No matter where you are in the area or on campus you can almost always see the crane looming large.

I had my camera on campus yesterday so I wanted to take a few shots to show the progress. Somewhat just for my own record, somewhat for our friends that used to be here and are now gone so they can see the changes around campus. And of course, just to inform you, my dear readers of life here.

My personal favorite part of the site - built-in windows in the wall surrounding the project for the curious of heart. I did notice, though, the bars are new and an obvious safety feature now that they are doing more work at eye level and less foundation work.

So you can't see the progress quite as well as prior to the bars.

And because I love you, I hiked up 4 flights of stairs to get you this view. You can see just how close the new library is being built to the old one - they basically touch (or maybe they do? see the 3rd photo on the blog to decide for yourself).

I really liked how you can already see the middle part (that is a major feature of the library) taking shape.

I wanted to give you a shot looking straight down, but they've put up more safety plastic/glass in the library windows where the construction is so it was inhibiting any decent downward looking shots.

Since the new library is one of my departments big sells for the University, I've heard a fair bit about it, thus being remiss if I didn't show it off a little to you! To read more about the new library, go here. Be sure to also to watch the video they have on their simulating the new library. There you should see the interior portion I was mentioning above.