Shade Structures
From BluWiki
Contents |
[edit] Examples
a good slide-show of examples to get you thinking
[edit] Good building materials
[edit] Shade netting (sometimes called ag-netting)
available from local tarp makers. Its cheap stuff, light, available in different colors, widths up to 12', lets the wind flow through and is tough as hell so you can reuse it. Just make sure you get at least 80% coverage or you'll toast from the UV.
[edit] PVC pipe
available in differing lengths, wall thicknesses, and diameters. Its cheap, light, flexible stuff that can be used to make all kinds of arcs, curves and vertical structures. Its not very strong on compressive strength though so figure that into your designs. If your careful you can reuse PVC from year to year; though a proportion o it will sag and melt beyond use.
[edit] Electrical Conduit
cheap, light and fairly easy to work with (once you get a $10 pipe cutter) its great for making buckyballs and can be curved to retain its shape. Like PVC pipe it's available in differing diameters, wall thicknesses, lengths. Reusable from year to year (as long as you dont step on it).
[edit] Wood
typically two by fours are seen out there. Compared to other things wood ain't that good for the desert. Its more expensive, tends to get dry out and warp in the heat, is heavy and harder to work with. Of course its stronger than most makeshift materials and it burns!
[edit] Scaffolding
scaffold sections make great, strong, multilevel temporary structures and (if you look carefully) can be cheap to rent. Course you have to rent them every year!
[edit] Anchoring, Fastening, Attaching
The Black Rock Desert is a place of extreme weather. While conditions are generally pleasant, you can expect severe wind, lightning, rain, hail, and dust storms at any time during the year, usually with very little warning.
The biggest challenge to any structure, from a small camping tent to a 50-foot high wooden man, is the force of the wind. Anything you bring out there should be securely attached to the ground for just this reason. Larger structures run the risk of tipping over and crushing someone, and smaller ones like camping tents may be blown miles down the playa, never to be seen again. By sheer luck the weather during the event has been fairly mild the last two years. But keep in mind that 75-mph winds are a common occurrence. In wind like this it is difficult to even stand up on your own two feet so do everything you can to plan for it accordingly.
Also keep in mind that anything lying around your camp that is not secured down, like garbage or plastic bottles or paper or art or anything else, will get blown downwind when you least expect it. It is your responsibility to take back everything that you bring in, from the largest structure to the smallest bottle cap or cigarette butt. Keeping everything secured means you won't have to spend hours or days searching for it later.
[edit] Tent Stakes
A large number of people camp in their tents at Burning Man. If you are going to be setting up a tent, have a look at the stakes that came with it. These are usually small and made of lightweight aluminum, designed for backpacking, trading off strength for weight. Since you probably won't be carrying the load on your back, go out and buy a few of those foot-long plastic or metal stakes they sell for larger tents. A local camping store had a bin of these last year with a sign For Burning Man. Also, for the same price, you can use rebar stakes, a much better idea, described below. If you are going to be using the small stakes that came with the tent, at least be sure to keep something large and heavy in your tent when you're not there, like a loaded ice chest. You don't want to be searching for your tent 20 miles downwind.
[edit] Rebar Stakes
If you're going to be setting up anything larger than a regular camping tent, like a parachute structure, you're going to need a better way of securing your structure to the ground. A popular and very practical way to stake your structure is to use rebar, which is normally used as reinforcement for poured concrete construction. It is strong, cheap, and resists pulling out from the ground better than anything you can buy at a camping store.
Go to your local friendly Home Club Enormart Depot, and buy it pre-cut in 3 foot lengths, for about a buck apiece (same price as tent stakes).
[edit] Zip Ties
Seriously. These hold together everything.
[edit] Rope
If you're planning anything tall and vertical and are using guy lines to keep it from tipping over, you might be shocked at the price of decent ropes or cable when you go to the hardware store. 80 cents a foot doesn't sound like much but if you need 200 feet, it adds up.
A good option for larger structures is used climbing rope � it is unbelievably strong and has a small amount of stretch to it, which helps a tiny bit in sudden wind gusts. Purchased new, it is very expensive. But regular climbers often ditch their used ropes after a short time for safety reasons, and if you call some climbing gyms or put up a notice at a mountaineering store, you may be able to get a cheap or free deal on a 150' coil. The common sizes are in the 9-11 mm range, all are plenty strong for securing most structures, and they hold knots very well. When you cut the rope to the length you want, take a lighter and melt the end down a bit, this will keep it from unraveling.
If you get your rope from a hardware store, try to avoid that slick stiff yellow stuff, which is by far the cheapest and fairly strong for most purposes, but doesn't hold knots worth a damn.
[edit] more Burning Man Shade Structure web sites
[edit] Oobleck Shade
[edit] Tasty Noodles
- 2 16x10 gabled structures constructed from 3/4" EMT conduit
- Ratchet straps and rebar for securing them to the playa
