Catenary Dome

This was about as far as it ever got. And it was in my garden for months.

What

A large weatherproof dome I could illuminate and get in.

IDEA

WASTED TIME

REVIVAL CHANCE

Why

I wanted to make an interesting but usable sculpture for my garden. I’d seen a few dome structures that looked really nice and thought that having one I could get into to enjoy would be a fun idea. There were several types I’d seen, and the one I went for was based on the shape I liked. I didn’t want a hemispherical dome. I decided to make an enclosed catenary dome made from plastic tubing, that would have polystyrene facets and double-glazed windows made from translucent frosted drawer lining stuff. The aim was for a sort of cross between the two examples below.

When

June 2013.

This looked lovely, cosy, interesting and organic.

Development & Progress

Rather a lot of development, preparation work and construction. Only some of it is shown here.

A long reel of pipe ready to be cut, heated clamped and drilled.

Clamped intervals so bolts could fit through two or more layers of pipes.

Rings and early build that was going wrong.

And there. As finished as this ever got.

The beginning of one of dozens of panels that I made but somehow don’t have photos of.

This has nothing to do with making the dome, but Hera just looks funny here.

Reason for Abandonment

Coiled plumbing pipe is inherently curved and not suitable for this kind of thing. Also, I had no better or more elegant way other than loads of zip-ties that would attach the facets to the frame. I probably knew early on that this wouldn’t work out well, but I persevered until the frame was practically complete anyway. The 99% finished frame was hanging about in my garden doing nothing for many many months. Eventually I knew I wasn’t going to resume or complete work on it, and just cut it all up and collected all the nuts and bolts that could be re-used for some other project I wouldn’t finish.

Chances of Revival

Absolutely none I think. Although I still like the idea of having one, especially like that illuminated one.

Legacy

Knack-all. Except I did use some bits of cut up pipe for some sort of markers when I was preparing the ground for first Park Bench.

I think this was a gentle dis-assemble before I just chopped it up for the bin.

Regret

I think that if I’d used straight (but much more expensive) pipe, this could have worked, but it would have been an even more lengthy process, and probably more soul-destroying if that had come to nothing as well.