After a nice fall break, everyone was better prepared and more excited about completing the Pulse Dome project. After a brief recap on Friday, the team separated into two different groups to prepare for a long weekend break. One team focused on gathering and discussing new ideas that would improve the current design, and the other team was outdoors investigating new ideas on how to steam the bamboo.
The large group, which consisted of 6 members, took the task of creating new ideas on how to further develop the project. A majority of the discussion focused on concluding what material will be appropriate for the overall structure, stairways, pathways and railings. The goal was to name over 100 different materials and narrow down the possibilities that can be use toward the design. The image below shows a list of materials we will be testing to see which will be suitable for the structure.
The other half of the group was outdoors testing the bamboo material. The group has constructed a new steamer that will possible allow more steam to heat the bamboo. After heating the bamboo for approximately 2 hours, they marked the ground with wooden steaks, which formed an ark shape to test the bending of the bamboo. We weaved the bamboo within the steaks to create the ark form. After we returned from fall break, we examined the drying of the bamboo. We were very impressed that it molded into the ark form. That was just an quick test, our next task will be testing longer bamboo strips.
Image above and below shows the layout of the wooden steaks. The bamboo are weaved between each steak creating the ark form.
The bamboo have been sitting for approximately 4 days
Results!
