It’s the end of an era at First United Methodist Church of Orlando. It’s the end of a current building and the end of the Skylight as we currently know it. Of course, while the building will change and be replaced, the personality of the building will live on. Because there are going to be some significant changes coming, I thought it was time to once again start up the Construction Blog. So here we go.

Today was the final day of work in the Skylight. Steve and I spent the day clearing out the last bit of things worth saving and moving them into storage. Things like the t-shirts from the ceiling tiles, the foosball tables, etc. Once all the “stuff” was removed, it was time to start a very cool project that will help carry the old building through our temporary locations until the final building is completed.

We cut out a section of wall from each room in the Skylight. Each room is uniquely painted so each wall segment is unique. I’ll be taking these segments to Sam Flax tomorrow to get framed so that we can hang them in our temporary locations to help hold ties to the old building. The idea was developed by our leadership team during a retreat earlier in the year as a nice connection to the old building.

The final thing we did today was inside the gym. The gym floor, especially the large logo, is very unique to our church. The gym has been a staple in our group for a long time so we decided to honor it, and have a way to give everyone a chance to remember the Skylight forever.

We cut a number of pieces from the Skylight logo in the center of the floor. This took a little trial and error on the side of the gym to determine how the floor is held together. Originally we had intended to take out the entire Skylight logo, though the way the floor is put together prevented that from being possible. So what we did was take out a number of pieces from the center in varying sizes. We’re going to put a small plaque on each one commemorating the dates the Skylight was open and then sell them as keep sakes. The cost will be very minimal as the quantity is extremely limited. I’ll put up more details about this in a few weeks, once the plaques are added and we know how many are available.

So there you have it. The end of an era. The end of the Skylight as we currently know it. What awaits us in a year or so is a new place to call home where new memories will be able to be built.

I’ll be posting to the Construction Blog as things merit. You can always see current and former posts related to construction by viewing the construction archive. Now, enjoy a few more picture from today’s exploits in the Skylight.