Questions about Carroll Shelby International, Gardena, answered in the words of the people who did the work. The engagement itself is on its own page.
When demolition revealed the barrel ceiling, how did the client get comfortable with making it the centerpiece?
We did not really need to persuade anyone. The key was preliminary demolition, and it is a practice we believe in. A lot of contractors keep the walls closed on a renovation, because whatever they find opens the door to change orders. We would rather know. It takes very little: cut a few quick holes, look, patch them. You see how the wall is put together, how the structure ties in, what the hold-downs look like, and here, what the ceiling looked like. We did that before the plan was approved, not after, so the pivot came early and it was easy. The moment everyone saw the barrel ceiling, we were all in agreement.
How did building in separate phases change the way the work was managed and the next award earned?
We had a long history with Shelby, from the retail store to their building to the owner's rep work in Las Vegas, so honestly it was our work to lose. We never asked for a master agreement. Every phase was bid on its own, so they could say no after any of them, and every success compounded on the next. A lot of it was documentation and communication. Something always goes wrong in construction, but if you say what is going to happen and document it well, you are okay, and we did that well.
How were dust, noise and crew access controlled while building the store beside a garage of valuable cars?
The store sat in a far corner of the lot, which helped, and we did two things. The one door into the garage where very expensive cars were stored, we did not just cover with plastic. We built a temporary sealed wall across it. The employees in the small office above we moved to open space in the Shelby Building a few hundred yards away, then walled that section off too. Plastic lets dust creep into everything. A sealed temporary wall is the better answer whenever you can build one.
Did the store open in time for the annual car show?
Yes, but it was a race. The client came to us about four months before the annual Carroll Shelby car show, which was held at the site, so that date was the deadline. We did the build-out in 60 days, start to finish, and the store was ready for the show. Stocking it was the easy part, because Shelby's name is on so many things that filling the store took care of itself. The hard part was getting the build-out done in time.
What earned the phase that followed the store?
The store alone did not win the next phase. By then we had done so much work for them that these were our projects to lose. It was the whole body of work that earned it.
What had to be coordinated to build a store inside a working licensing office?
We designed and built the store inside a working licensing office, so we coordinated around all their employees, all their cars and the desks upstairs. They kept many of their most expensive cars in the adjacent space. Any time you are moving people and expensive vehicles, and working around those vehicles with your crews or subcontractors, there is an extra layer of risk and protection required.
What had to go right for the mural to persuade people who had never seen a proposal?
Getting his signature right at full scale was the whole job, and we had an outstanding artist to do it. The brief was the Shelby insignia, blue racing stripes and Carroll Shelby's own signature. We laid it out at night, setting an outdoor projector on the lot and throwing the signature, massive, onto one side of the building and the insignia onto the other. The artist went up a ladder, penciled along the projection, then filled it in. It was more prep than the price assumed, but it was fun, and the finished wall is what the city saw before it told us to keep it up.
How was the projected signature kept accurate, and how did we know the finished image was ready for the city?
Tracing straight off the projection kept it accurate at full size. Knowing it was ready was like any piece of art: our call, made by visual inspection. We made some tweaks, but it came down to looking at it and deciding whether it was right.
Was the mural part of the 60-day store build?
No. The mural was separate, with no deadline, and it was basically a single trade: a couple of painters and artists. It was not an assembly line, and it was not high risk.