Luna Powell painting the sliding door of the Mars yard at SAM

Last week Matthias and Luna built a quick prototype of a Mars yard wall section, the intent to visualize the avrage height and angle of a small section of what will be sculpted concrete over expanded steel. With the close of this week Matthias installed the final sheet of steel paneling on the sliding door then trimmed west wall roof sheets (installed in July 2022) while Luna painted, and Kai installed the new power distribution panel.

It’s been a long, hot summer followed by a far too warm September and October with a series of projects in the SAM Mars yard renovation that took far more resources than anticipated. With Matthias Beach in the lead, Sean Gellenbeck, Tasha Coelho, Mason Robbins and Natasha Nichols worked sequentially for the removal of all no-longer-needed electrical conduit, chasing new electrical wiring through the conduit that was retained, installation of a new electrical power distribution panel, mounting all new, outdoor rated electrical sockets, replacing the mostly defunct lighting (as one would expect after thirty five years), and a complete reconstruction of the west wall in order to install new steel siding.

The end result is incredibly rewarding as the Mars yard superstructure is very well lit, with isolated circuits on every wall, and a clean power distribution panel on a brand new backboard. With the new roll-up doors and steel roof overhead, the building is now completely secured from the weather, and from the critters too.