2000-04 - Lower reinforcing placed

The column comes up to the table top and 32 16mm reinforcing bars run from the table top between the 16 windows down to the roof

2000-04 - Upper reinforcing placed.

The original design had no domed pergola or internal flower boxes. But once the upper floor was complete the roof line looked cut off. So redesign and back to the engineers, planning, permits etc

A dome from the outer edges was just too high - even when an ellipse and truncated.

So put some planter boxes ontop of underlying walls and I toyed with the idea of freestanding ribs.

Finally settled on this

2004 - I routed this pattern out of formply 7mm deep on Tony's CNC router, and its mirror on another piece and clamped the two together with 3 ply in the grooves

2004-03 - First pour

2004-03 - The cranes main column was old 300mm diameter 10mm thick steel pipe from the old lakes dredge

2004-03 - Each pair of ribs took about 0.2m3 of concrete

2004-03 - This central ring went up first. The wires for the lighting have to run down each rib. Because the original lights were 12v halogens, currents were high (before leds), so there are three supply lines

2004-04 - Only two pair to go.

2004-05 - Days are getting short

2004-06 - I originally planned to put tiles on all four sides - but decided it would be too much terracotta.

2004-06 - Which meant of course that some of the flower boxes protruded too far....

2004-07 - view from the top

2004-07 - 58 tiles around each ring of that roof, tiles of each successive 8mm smaller, cut on a tapper on both sides

2004-07 - Rendering the ribs

Watch the timelapse. Set to HD in settings (The  icon Pops up once play commences. For ADSL2 720p seems ok)

2004-08 - Cables up.

2004-08 - view from the door

2004-08

2004-08 - At night

2004-10 - Flower boxes rendered and sealed

2004-10

2004-11 - Design of pattern on the roof. Templates are cut from these

2004-12 - Set out for yellow exposed pebbles

2004-12 - Same pebbles, only the background cement is coloured

2004-12

2005-02 - That looks better than no dome.

2005-05

2005-05

2005-05 - working on the gable wall. This is steel left over from the North Arm Bridge

2005-05 - limelight plants and vines in

2005-06

2005-06

2006-03 - Carlo

2006-03 - and friends

2012-07 - To protect the door from rain/sun, I siliconed this glass between the cables.

2012-07 - Its all ended up a bit of a mess - the joints were only suppossed to be 10mm, but as I put the glass up the cables moved, and the fit became progressicvely worse.

2012-07 - If time and money permits I'd do it again; I'd just take the central templates first, then fit them, and then take the next ones out and so on.

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