Very interesting, Julie. I'm definitely of the opinion that the H13
*geometry* is absolutely amazing - the one we built out here feels
great - but it handles forces quite differently from the standard
hexayurt and that's going to affect the way it's constructed. Lot of
big, flat surfaces - the 8' vertical area at the front, and the
parallelogram roof
It's going to be interesting to see how they hold up the first year
they are on the playa, and it's an important time in terms of learning
what works and what doesn't Scott and Dylan's new design. If anybody
just nails it ("this is exactly how you do it in polyiso for the
playa, it's dead easy and rock solid!") it's really important we
capture that.
With the regular H12, I'd four or five years of doing them at Burning
Man before it went big. I'd made a fair number of mistakes, none of
which resulted in a failed hexayurt, but all of which were learned
from before we documented what's become the H12-Classic-Polyiso
design. I've seen one H13 built of polyiso by Herman's crew for the
Changing Tents event in Brussels but, frankly, there wasn't much wind,
it was anchored (classic tape anchors) to seven half-ton concrete
blocks, and they had it built before I got much of a chance to suss
out how it worked!
So, yeah, overbuild and caution. It's the H13's first year on the
playa, and those building them need to be aware that we don't know how
they'll compare in practice. I will say that, as far as I know, there
hasn't been an H12 failure at Burning Man, which probably means that
the H12 is substantially *over*-specified, or we'd have seen
occasional failures when dodgy construction met an unusual wind, so
there's probably a bit of "engineering margin". But it's a nice
feeling to be doing what you know works and has worked before,
although it's a lot cooler and more exciting to be expanding the state
of the art!
Good luck, H13 Burning Man Test Crew :-)
Vinay
On Thu, Jul 14, 2011 at 6:46 AM, Julie Danger <[email protected]> wrote:
> Yes, tricky design. I talked with my nearest engineer and he's unsure of
> its stability, he recommends the 10' hexayurt over it which surprised me.
> If you make one, get really smart about the way that you lash it down--
> maybe two rope halos, for each peak?
>
> I do recommend 4 separate roof sections because they minimize and stabilize
> shipping space. Another flat piece of tape on-playa isn't that difficult.
> There are two ways to bisect the roof, but one side looks like a standard
> hexayurt, the other looks like...something else, and has the "high flat
> face" where a door would logically go. If we're talking about the
> 'traditional looking' half, yes: you can join 3 triangular panels with 3
> tight hinges--but be mindful which ones you pick! I prefer the 0.5x loose
> hinges on that side, partially because I'm used to it, and partially because
> tight hinges joining the "kite" will create funnels for water in the
> instance of rain. Perhaps not disastrous, but the loose hinge is ironically
> more stable.
> For the "different" half of the roof, with the door face on it: DO a tight
> hinge from the inside on those kites. My initial instructions were plain
> wrong: the math worked but it was very unstable. This will also create a
> funnel for rain-- you can always add some 3" tape from the outside after the
> hexayurt is constructed
>
> One of the recent builders said it seemed unstable when assemble just using
> tape patches: the tape ring that joins the roof to the walls is a critical
> element of stability, as is the way you guy down the yurt (again, a rope
> halo might be best on an H13, perhaps in combination w/ tape anchors). So,
> stability should improve. However, I realize: a nice tall door will cut into
> the tape tension ring! This, plus the instability that asymmetrical
> structures have, makes me advise you to overbuild it!
>
> Any H13 builders, please consider shooting some video, even if it's crappy
> video! You don't even have to talk-- in fact, no language is preferred for
> the international community. I'll happily edit it into something useful.
>
> Thanks!
> J
>
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Vinay Gupta
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