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Architectural Copyright VA1-260-159 US
5/14/04
Locally, there is a Century
theater in Mountain View, CA that has a beautiful 28 ft. diameter pool with a
lighted water spray all around its perimeter that sends streams of water
jetting up at a 45 degree angle radially into the center -- that looks just like
this arbor's canopy. Hence the name Fountainhead. The arbor,
however, has radial streams made of solid-plastic 2x2s.
It is called a garden arbor because this
all-plastic arbor was designed as an architectural prop for growing a living
shade canopy. By itself it provides little sun shade. But with living
plants filling in the open spaces, it can provide a natural shade umbrella
without any interior obstructions. (See
the Costello project for an example of this.)
It is ideal for supporting flowering climbing-vines such as wisteria,
jasmine or morning glory.
The central grid provides a natural light source overhead for
underlighting the canopy after the vines fill-in among the radial elements.
The diameter of the arbor's canopy shown here is 19 feet. It can be
fabricated to any diameter between 16 and 26 feet. And depending on the size of
the canopy,
between 5 and 8 columns are needed for adequate aerial support and lateral bracing.
The base of all canopies are 8 feet above the patio. The height of the
central grid ranges from 3½ to 6 ft. above the canopy's
base. Here, the canopy's interior is 4 feet, making the top 12 feet above
the patio.
Each support column is a configuration of 2 solid-plastic 4x4's for
vertical support and six arched 1x4's for 2-way lateral bracing.
The entire arbor is built from brilliant-white
PrimoPlank solid-plastic. Eventhough the canopy's radial elements are
2x2s , the configuration itself is quite rigid. I've climbed all over this
canopy when assembling it both in the shop and during the construction of
the arbor shown here. I am pretty amazed by its natural
robustness.
Only stainless steel screws are used for
fasteners throughout. The entire arbor will never need painting or renovation.
Climbing vines will never discolor nor damage the plastic elements or
fasteners, regardless of the canopy's age.
The columns support the base rim of the canopy, so are
positioned around and directly beneath the canopy's perimeter. The columns are mounted outside the patio beneath the canopy
on exposed ground. Each column is designed to readily accommodate the trunk
of a vine that would be planted at its base.
Kit Info
The central encircled-grid and uppermost ring come
pre-assembled -- near impossible to assemble on site without the proper
constraining jigs and bending equipment -- there's also more technology to it than that.
A professional builder must assemble this canopy, build a temporary
timber support structure for it and erect the canopy onto the support
structure. Instructions are provided on how to construct the
temporary support platform plus a number of other critical procedures to make the erection task as
expeditious and the positioning of the structure as accurate as possible.
The kit also comes with standard building plans for use in
the erection task and permit procurement. Technical test data for the
plastic materials involved are also furnished for your Building dept. Engineer-stamped drawings are available if required, but
is an additional cost to the posted price.
You
will be required by your local Planning department to also provide a Plot
Plan showing the boundaries of your property
and the arbor's planned location and area coverage within them -- this is
not furnished with the kit; your
builder must furnish that.
Kit Prices
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Price is for out-of-the-shop, crated kit.
Kit must be prepaid before we start to fabricate it.
Freight costs must also be added and will be
determined based on your location and its accessibility ($400 minimum) .
The costs of construction, concrete, the permit and
its procurement, wooden-form timbers, framing of the form and any
erection services are those of your local contractor's.
† Note: The starting price for those painted
wooden
"stack of sticks"
arbors in the Critiques is $30 / sq. ft. !!!! |
Size
16 ft .dia.
17 ft. dia.
18 ft. dia.
19 ft. dia
20 ft. dia.
21 ft. dia.
22 ft. dia.
23 ft. dia.
24 ft. dia.
25 ft. dia
26 ft. dia.
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Cols
5
5 6
6
6
7
7
7
8
8
8 |
Price
7,200
8,100
9,000
9,900
10,800
11,700
12,550
13,400
14,300
15,100
15,900
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Sq ft area
200
230
255
285
315
345
380
415
450
490
530
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$/ sq. ft.
†
36.00
35.22
35.90
34.74
34.29
33.91
33.00
32.29
31.78
30.82
30.00
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Copyright © Mr. Deck 2001
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