Because of the depth of the tower foundations, all of the other foundations adjacent to the tower were founded at the same elevation. This photograph shows the formwork in place for pouring the foundation concrete. In the upper right corner of the picture are the sound stages of 20th Century Fox studios.
Above the tower foundation is the Baptistery. The waste moulds that form the niche in each corner of the Baptistery can be seen as the white objects in the opposing corners of the tower. The concrete was placed in between two wood forms and it filled around the waste form. When the wall forms were stripped, the waste form was also removed leaving the void that formed the niche. Careful consolidation of the concrete is required to minimize honeycombs, rock pockets, and other voids formed by trapped air.
In this photograph, taken from the northwest corner of the church, the forms for the rear (west) wall of the sanctuary can be seen at the rear. The forms for the tower and the south and north walls of the sanctuary are also visible. The size of the project required the constant use of a crane to lift the large forms into place high above the floor of the church. The square-tank concrete mixers that were common prior to the 1960s can also be seen.
The forms for the tall arch windows on the south and north sides of the nave can be seen in this photograph. Forms for the two window blanks on the north side of the tower can also been seen toward the right side of the photograph. Rising above the top of the window arches is the formwork for the next lift of the tower structure.
The difficulty of forming the arch separating the sanctuary from the nave can be appreciated in this photograph. Falsework and shoring support the curved form for the left side of the arch. The form for the right side of the arch is on the ground at the lower right hand corner of the photograph. The crane lifts the form on top of the falsework, guided by the workers. Although the height of the falsework would be calculated to follow the radius of the arch, the form would have to be shimmed into position to ensure that the actual radius of the arch was maintained when the concrete was placed in the form. Steel located at the bottom soffit of the arch can be seen splaying from an earlier pour of the support wall on the right side of the arch. In this support wall can also be seen the niche for the statue on the St. Joseph side of the altar. Symmetrical construction would be found on the left (Mary) side of the arch.
The nearly completed formwork for the arch between the sanctuary and the nave can be seen in this photograph. Prior to placing the concrete the form on the nave side of the arch still needs to be set. The ironworkers are tying off the top and bottom steel and the wall steel in the arch. Again, the logistics of constructing this arch can be appreciated from the amount of falsework required to support these forms.
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