The morning began with happy faces and one very prevalent mustache, thanks to our teacher. Due to my great photoshoping skills, you can all see what we got to see at 8am this morning. We filed in with tasks of constructing the bridge and laying out our bamboo pieces for the dome.
We began by locating and building the hatch that will be placed in the middle of the bridge and allow access to the maintenance hole in the fountain if need be. This process went by faster than I thought. After that, the studio began lashing the flooring of the bridge. This is also constructed out of horizontal bamboo pieces. The lashing is very intricate because the bamboo cannot slide in any way.
We got almost half way done and decided to flip it over to see if the bridge could hold itself. It took about 20 people to lift up the bridge and flip it over. Once we got it flipped over we noticed that two pegs in the truss snapped. This is due to the fact that the pegs are made out of poplar, which is a soft wood. This causes a concern because when there is a live load the pegs will have more of a chance to break.
Sooo… an engineer and two architects came by to inspect the situation. We are to a point where the deadline is approaching and options are getting slim. We need to re-peg the truss with a more sturdy peg system.
Before we left the wood shop some students stood on the bridge to see if the pegs would come out. To our surprise, the pegs withstood the weight of people. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have to have another plan, but is just one sign of hope.
