The Spanish Colonial Arbor

The rendering above simulates the night-time appearance with well-placed narrowly focused spotlights.

Simulated fractal-glass skylight -- artistry by
Tina Coggins

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The Spanish-Colonial Arbor

This arbor evokes an aura of Spanish royalty. Its tall slender pillars give it a colonial grandeur. The broad centrally-segregated arches bestow the Spanish motif. Its regal charm comes from the uninterrupted bulbous-base wrought-iron railing around the perimeter of a balcony-level deck. And the canopy is reminiscent of the early cathedral domes of Spain, only this one is open to the sky.

The arbor shown at right is the fully circular fountainhead arbor; it is shown here to give some sense as to how the canopy on the left would be structured. But take note: the Spanish-Colonial arbor is much more robust in that it will use thicker dimensioned elements in every construct. Only the curved radial lath would remain 2x2s but will be more closely spaced.

Whereas the fountainhead arbor is 19 feet in diameter, the Spanish-Colonial arbor's diameter is 22 feet. Whereas, the former skylight is 3½ feet in diameter, the latter's skylight is 5 feet wide.

The skirting below the mid-level deck is a stucco-finished hard-wall. It is recessed back 2½ feet from the perimeter and supports the round portion of the balcony deck. A cylindrical cutout forms a focused backdrop for a fountain-statue which spills into a circular pool at its base. The cutout in the deck provides an up-close view of the fountain-statue from above.

The canopy is horseshoe shaped; the 2x2 rafter-lath along the straight sections runs parallel instead of radially.

In the round arbor at right, a central grid serves as the topmost component, but in the horseshoe-shaped arbor above left, a simulated fractal-glass skylight shown here on the left serves to add daytime color to the canopy.
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Just as for the fountainhead arbor, the Spanish-Colonial arbor is constructed entirely from solid-plastic, except for a few hidden structural elements that must be incorporated into the straight segments of the horseshoe.

The balcony deck has solid-plastic planking and plastic curved perimeter-facia as well. The railings are constructed from solid-plastic except for the architectural balusters. Those are DecKorator's white powder-coated aluminum balusters.