Click picture to make it bigger...here are the plans so far for the Trumpeter Swan House Design Project...
Materials: Copper pipe, copper corner connectors, copper Tee connectors, copper 1/2 inch wrap (easy to bend, holds stuff together)...Chicken wire, Sari's Concrete Special Recipe Mix, love...
http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/plans/hoop-greenhouse.pdf Saw this greenhouse arch design today...Deeply considering using PVC pipe instead-it bends so nicely!...Plus the clips that go on the pvc pipe to attach fabric are neat!...Must talk to the swans...
http://www.amazon.com/Latex-Concrete-Habitat-Albert-Knott/dp/1412039975 A quick look inside the book Latex Concrete habitats, free...Trying to decide why a hyperbolic paraboloid is better than a hip roof (pyramid shape)? Anybody?
After much thought & looking at saddleroofs (hyperbolic paraboloids) & pringles chips, I think I may be going back to a more simple design...
Simple design: 4 copper pipes, attached with copper wire to form pyramid roof shape, then continue the copper wire to form a square floor shape with tension...The whole thing is collapsible...Then, maybe cover with a waterproof fabric...Including the floor...Makes the whole thing collapsible, like a tent...Sigh, am I just building a tent? Hmmm...
But it could be neat then I could pop it in the back of my car...Turns into a temporary swan house, triage facility, warming station, feeding station...Could be modified by replacing waterproof fabric with chicken wire or fibreglass mesh then concrete latex mix...?
Ok, I am back to my original idea...Why? here is an excerpt from the wikipedia on hyperbolic structures...My design in the pic involves a hyperbolic paraboloid...Here is the salient point: (from wikipedia)
"Hyperboloid structures are superior in stability towards outside forces than "straight" buildings..."
Which means that a flat pyramid shape, with 4 flat sides, catches the wind more than the curved Hyperbolic shape...hence, a Canadian understands the choice...Hyperbolic it is...
Ok: After a walk to Global Pet foods for some more Innova cat food dry (on sale today & tomorrow-Sept.9-10), I realized (ok, chatted with Joseph), that I needed an acrylic/plexiglass oval for my skylight...After searching a little, I found oval domes online...Thought about that & realized I could use an upside down clear bowl as a skylight, & then I don't need to lean it...Then I saw cake covers, & thought a cake cover shape is even better than a bowl shape...Could use glass or plastic, not sure...Could make it removable...Sensing a trip to Spadina & Queen Chinatown for glass or plastic bowl or clear cake covers...
Further thinking: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Kettle-Moraine-Orange-Dome-Oriole-Fruit-Bird-Feeder-/390320910088?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ae0f06f08#ht_500wt_922 I was looking at this red orange dome bird feeder thing...if the link expires, it is basically a dome in acrylic with a hole at the top, the hole has a bird feeder contraption hanging from it- maybe I could make something like this, so then I have a bright coloured skylight, plus hanging from it maybe a bowl to put wild bird seed in...Possibly too complex, & the bird feeder will get bumped into, but it is a neat idea for a bird shelter/bird feeder, now just to make it huge enough for a Trumpeter Swan???
http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/plans/hoop-greenhouse.pdf Saw this greenhouse arch design today...Deeply considering using PVC pipe instead-it bends so nicely!...Plus the clips that go on the pvc pipe to attach fabric are neat!...Must talk to the swans...
http://www.amazon.com/Latex-Concrete-Habitat-Albert-Knott/dp/1412039975 A quick look inside the book Latex Concrete habitats, free...Trying to decide why a hyperbolic paraboloid is better than a hip roof (pyramid shape)? Anybody?
After much thought & looking at saddleroofs (hyperbolic paraboloids) & pringles chips, I think I may be going back to a more simple design...
Simple design: 4 copper pipes, attached with copper wire to form pyramid roof shape, then continue the copper wire to form a square floor shape with tension...The whole thing is collapsible...Then, maybe cover with a waterproof fabric...Including the floor...Makes the whole thing collapsible, like a tent...Sigh, am I just building a tent? Hmmm...
But it could be neat then I could pop it in the back of my car...Turns into a temporary swan house, triage facility, warming station, feeding station...Could be modified by replacing waterproof fabric with chicken wire or fibreglass mesh then concrete latex mix...?
Ok, I am back to my original idea...Why? here is an excerpt from the wikipedia on hyperbolic structures...My design in the pic involves a hyperbolic paraboloid...Here is the salient point: (from wikipedia)
"Hyperboloid structures are superior in stability towards outside forces than "straight" buildings..."
Which means that a flat pyramid shape, with 4 flat sides, catches the wind more than the curved Hyperbolic shape...hence, a Canadian understands the choice...Hyperbolic it is...
Ok: After a walk to Global Pet foods for some more Innova cat food dry (on sale today & tomorrow-Sept.9-10), I realized (ok, chatted with Joseph), that I needed an acrylic/plexiglass oval for my skylight...After searching a little, I found oval domes online...Thought about that & realized I could use an upside down clear bowl as a skylight, & then I don't need to lean it...Then I saw cake covers, & thought a cake cover shape is even better than a bowl shape...Could use glass or plastic, not sure...Could make it removable...Sensing a trip to Spadina & Queen Chinatown for glass or plastic bowl or clear cake covers...
Further thinking: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Kettle-Moraine-Orange-Dome-Oriole-Fruit-Bird-Feeder-/390320910088?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ae0f06f08#ht_500wt_922 I was looking at this red orange dome bird feeder thing...if the link expires, it is basically a dome in acrylic with a hole at the top, the hole has a bird feeder contraption hanging from it- maybe I could make something like this, so then I have a bright coloured skylight, plus hanging from it maybe a bowl to put wild bird seed in...Possibly too complex, & the bird feeder will get bumped into, but it is a neat idea for a bird shelter/bird feeder, now just to make it huge enough for a Trumpeter Swan???
THE SALT SHAKER: Plans for a miniature version first...(using just one piece of 6 ft. copper pipe).
Here is a slight improvement to the hyperbolic paraboloid-saddle shell idea- I have added a SKYLIGHT! I call this version The Salt Shaker!
Ok I have improved the salt shaker to be a TILTED Salt Shaker...If I use 1/2 inch copper pipe, but use 3/4 inch Tee coupling, the Tee coupling will slide along the bar, allowing me to place two of the supporting beams almost to one corner (see far left corner)...because the distance from the middle of the bar is shorter than the distance from the corners, this will cause the salt shaker to tilt towards the corner...The tilt will allow the skylight to not leak...A tilted skylight allows the rain to run off...(Assuming each supporting beam is of equal length...) Another way to achieve a tilt is by shortening two of the supporting bars...Hmmm...
here is an updated version of the Salt Shaker Swan Shelter: This one uses a clear acrylic dome as a skylight, possibly with a hanging pan for wild bird seed, a hyperbolic paraboloid design, one side wide open, & 6 feet across on all foor sides as well as 6 feet upwards...Covered in chicken wire mesh, then cover that with concrete mix...& the floor can be bare sand , straw, or filled in...Total cost , ahem, um,
Ok, so I went through some more refinements: I was thinking, a square over a square- with the little square at the top having a roof made of a square dome ( a dome rising skylight with square edges)...Then I returned to a pyramid shape with the same square domed skylight...Then back to the pyramid again...Then to something completely backwards which was two large circles, connected 3/4 to form an open cylinder shape (made of recycled wild bird seed bags & wrapped in sisal-something I have done before but not on this scale)...Then I showed Joseph...He asked me what material my hyperbolic parabolid salt shaker swan house with square domed skylight was going to made of...I said concrete...he said you're not using concrete...I realized he was right...This was too big a project for me to use the very heavy concrete...Unless I was building on site, which I am not...So I have reversed everything back to zero almost...I am going to get a bale of straw, put it in my car, & scatter it out for the Trumpeter Swans to sit on in the winter...That is the best I can do for them easily right now...A house needs permits...I can spend my monies better just making sure they get tons of wild bird seed this winter to help them survive...A better expenditure of time & money than on red tape & permits...I have no taste for that...
Ok, so try try again...The more developed sketch is the one I may try...Today I was reading that PVC pipe is actually better in cement than metal pipe due to freezing...So the design is basically two hula hoops of PVC pipe, connected to each other with 3 straight PVC pipes 4 feet in height, using Tee connectors on both hoops to connect them...Then I was thinking of weaving Sisal rope on each hula hoop, & on three sides of the nest house...For a very cold day in winter...Put wild bird seed on the floor when using...
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