New solutions to height problems

After 30 years in the construction industry, Robert Czyzewski hit a first.

A project manager at DEL Electric, Czyzewski had dealt with numerous projects involving lights at high elevations. But the renovation of the Rainforest Exhibit at the National Aquarium stripped him of all his normal means of access.

“There were trees and shrubbery and a river running through the exhibit. That left limited space to set up any kind of scaffolding or ladders,” Czyzewski said.

So for the first time ever, Czyzewski arranged to have the work completed by a climber. A specialty rigging crew, contracted by Plano-Coudon Construction, placed the new light fixtures in the exhibit’s glass pyramid. Then a DEL electrician, who was an avid rock climber, scaled the exhibit to run conduit and wire, mount electrical boxes and junctions, and position each light to match the renovation’s design.

“He was in his joy, in his element up there,” Czyzewski said.

Meanwhile, a crew on the ground delivered prefabricated conduit and other supplies to him by pulley to make the job easier.

Outside, the DEL crew faced another challenge. To install new lighting on the exterior of the 120-foot-tall pyramid, “we had to get the largest lift truck offered in Maryland, which has a 185-foot articulating boom lift,” Czyzewski said.

Still, the installation was something of a white-knuckle exercise.

“When you are up that high, the bucket has a five-foot sway radius,” he said.

Consequently, crews couldn’t safely operate if winds exceeded 10 mph. DEL also installed boat fenders around the bucket so that if it did bump into the pyramid, it wouldn’t break through the glass.