Cross Gable Roof Yurt

[DanBrown]

Is this design pushing yurt technology too far? I made two functional models. The thickness is not to scale in these models (#1 very thick to study folding technique, thinner but still thicker than scale in model #2), and if folds nicely into two flat pieces. It will have plastic bottle lighting in the tower (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixGbSnDLSDo). When collapsed into its two parts, it will be 26" thick and should sandwich nicely between two 4'x8' plywood sheets.

So, am I doing anything wrong? Will this work or is it too far out?

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/4834/37786110150567837462646.jpg

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/5266/37954410150570860952646.jpg

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/3461/30229510150570881647646.jpg

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/5783/38333310150570905892646.jpg

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/6862/38577210150571226562646.jpg

[Morten H. D. Fuglsang]

Hey Dan,

I'm not one to determine if it's pushing it too far or not, but I do wonder if the distribution of weight and tension makes it stabile like a hexayurt -- have you looked into that?

Something else: I intend to install a "plastic bottle lighting" in my own H12 hexayurt soonish, so if you - or anyone else for that matter - have any advice on installing it, I'll happily receive it ;) (and post my experience and photos after installing).

Cheers!

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[Vinay Gupta (Hexayurt Shelter Project)]

Oh, this is absolutely gorgeous! 

Great work, Dan, that looks like an absolute ton of fun. Are you planning on building it at Burning Man this year?

Vinay

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Vinay Gupta
Free Science and Engineering in the Global Public Interest

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[Daniel Brown]

I will likely try to build this, yeah, given some of the advice I can gather here if it can be done or not! Probably test it earlier, since structural failure on the playa is not a scenario I will accept.
I haven't brained anything yet on how to attach the steeple to the roof. commercial grade velcro maybe?
I'm not completely against the idea of a center-post or beam support, but that's more of a plan B at this point.

[Alejandro Moreno]

Wow, very creative Dan.  I can't speak to your steeple holding up, though velcro sounds like an interesting idea. At the same time, I don't see why the standard bi-directional filament tape wouldn't work for you (hexayurttape.com).  

So steeple logistics aside, if you're planning on building this yurt at BM this year, there's really only one (external) thing that you'd need to worry about - the wind.

You are adding a number of flat faces, both high and low, and some of them fairly long (like the length of both sides of the yurt) in addition to the spire (which I love by the way, great gothic touch and will add a "temple" ambience to your campground).  Also, the pitch of your roof is quite steep which also creates some potential additional wind resistance.  

Ergo, my guess is this design will create more wind resistance overall than i.e. a traditional hexagonal (round-ish) style yurt.  Looking at the roofline in http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/4834/37786110150567837462646.jpg , I don't see a single rope-halo style method as being effective, or even doable.  I would guess you're going to have to use tape tie-downs at a few different points (which is what I used last year on my H13), or throw 4 rope sections over each A-frame section, tape them to the yurt and anchor the ends of each rope section with rebar hammered into the ground.  I'll explain with more detail...

I have attached a pdf of your 1st jpg, indicating where I think the best points are for using a tape tie-down with red circles.

The pdf should be self-explanatory, though one additional point I'd make is, you have four A-frame sections of significant size - fore, aft, and laterally from the spire.  From the apexes of those a-frame portions, instead of just one tape tie-down, you could actually tape 2 - tape on one side of the apex, and pull away and across the opposite side and anchor down.  Then repeat on the opposite side of the same apex.  

Different approach: The 4 rope section approach I mentioned earlier - take 4 rope sections, tie one end of the rope to the rebar you hammered into the ground (or whatever anchor mechanism you choose to use), lay the rope down just inside the edge of the perimeter of one of the A-frame sections (up, along, and over) and go over the apex and down the other side, anchoring the other end of the rope to the rebar in the ground. You will still have to tape a portion of the rope to the yurt's surface anyway with this approach.

If you go with this latter 4-point rope-based design, for ease of explanation, let's call the end with the door, "the front", and the opposite end will be "the back" (or fore and aft, whatever you prefer), so if you're on the inside with your back towards the back, we now also have a respective "left", as well as a "right".  

You could share 1 of the rebars between the i.e. the left spire A-frame section tie-down, with the left tie-down from the aft or back section A-frame (again, front or fore being the end with the door), and repeat with the opposite right spire A-frame.  Meaning, instead of 4 rope section tie-downs normally requiring 8 rebars hammered into the ground, you could do just as well using only 6 rebars.

The most important thing here is your yurt is untested with regards to aerodynamics on the playa, so aside from the fact that all recommendations here are only theoretical (release of liability here), at least in terms of tie-downs, one thing we all can agree on in is this case is that more is better.  

Good luck, I'm really looking forward to seeing some pics, as I can't make it to BM this year.  

Burn on!

-Alejandro

-Alejandro Moreno S.

GreenMBA, Dominican University of California

Cell (415) 578-8731 

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