Site Visit

Although the weather wasn't great, we got to take a visit to site and check out our berm fill. This pile looked a lot smaller in Rhino...

Bend Testing

Last week we began bending tests on different cross sections of green oak. It's time to pick our lath dimensions for the gridshell!

Material Field Trip

This week we were on the hunt to source slate and wood for the project. Thank you Scotia Stone and Richard Neily Sawmill!

Edge Beam

Our team in North Carolina is experimenting how to curve a steel edge beam using hydraulic jacks.

Office Visitors

It's professional practice week at Dalhousie University, which means plenty of new visitors to the office. It's always nice to have fresh perspectives! Thank you Jack Stanley (Montreal), Aziza Chaouni (Toronto), and Maggie Hansen (New Orleans). 

Design Research

Today we are studying gabion wall design. We are looking to incorporate furniture and theatre seating into the walls of the Highland Gridshell in Cheticamp.

University of Arizona gridshell raised today

The University of Arizona gridshell being raised 15' in the air today by crane. They will adjust the gridshell in place with the crane by pushing and pulling parts of the structure and surveying it in real time with surveying equipment. 

Grant application submitted

We've just submitted an application (finger's crossed!) for funding for the POD project. This grant will allow us to move forward with the construction of POD Prototype B - a user-ready version that would be ready for testing in Summer 2016 and then be to be rolled out for production, installation and use by Autumn 2016. 

An update from Cheticamp

A crew of six have been back at Cheticamp working on the grid shell. You have to look closely. The laths are now in a much more regular pattern, the gable ends improved, and all is closer to the ideal structural model on the computer. We have surveyed and located all the nodes and are comparing the as-builts to the computer model. Next step is installing continuous shear blocking between the laths along the main stress lines of the shell.