Any design starts with a set of carefully developed construction documents that show how elements (even down to the fine details) will be built. For the moment, everything seems perfect and all details are solved. Sometimes when you begin fabrication however, you realize that some details may not work as well as originally intended, and you need to head back to the drawing board to think up a more simple and effective solution.
This week as the steel work was wrapping up and the team was anxious to start painting, it became clear that we would need to fabricate elements for the canopy to attach to. I spent a studio class taking a second look at the original ideas for canopy hook and storage, and it became clear that these elements would need to be welded and/or bolted to the truss and door frames, instead of being attached to the wood posts.
The new design uses 3/8″ steel rod in two different locations. One L-shaped piece will be threaded and bolted to the truss. It will permanently hold one end of the canopy and will have an end for storing the entire canopy when it is not in use. The other piece will be a smaller L-shape, welded to the door frame at a height of 6′-8″ from the ground. This hook will allow for the canopy rod to attach to it when both doors are open and extra shade is needed. The weird looking contraption (Below) was used to bend steel at a 90 degree angle.
Speaking of canopies, the client decided that they would like to have the canopy material be striped. Due to the unique character and constraints of the striped fabric, it also became clear that the skill required to sew and hem the necessary canopy would be too difficult for us, so we will be sending off our design to another company to fabricate. This required some other design decisions to be made, and a simple drawing to be created and sent off to the fabricators.
