In aid of World Monuments Fund Britain

[BAJR Host]

quote:big sinister international fund to the rescue

Hmmm... sinister fund.. with a high profile ... shurely shome mishtake?

however... I do like the idea of a geodetic dome.. and some good sound points as well.. the dried frog pills are working! [:p]

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[Unitof1]

To get it past those Conservation Officers with obscure qualifications we are going to have to get some traditional vernacular geodetic dome speak into the act. Should it be based on the icosahedron, what frequency, etc I was thinking that iron age round houses might be a good place of inspiration. In fact the more I look at the really big iron age ones I am convinced that they must have been domes if they had any hope of being a structure at all particularly the ones which show no evidence of internal posts although even if they do they could have been for scaffolding. By reverse thinking this implys that the smaller ones were also domes. are we seeing decreaseing strut size to increasing radius over time. Could stonehenge no I cant.

This is quite a fun site. http://www.desertdomes.com/domecalc.html BamBoo I am currently cutting up drinking straws and unbending paper clips into circles to act as hubs (dome jargon for theres lots of ways to join short sticks together) and am attempting a 2V what ever that is (not sure if I claim the expense on the tax form as office supplies or research and design, what about my time, luckily I have to talk to my tax officer as they seem to Have got it in their heads that I should start paying this years tax when I haven?t finished paying last years)

[m300572]

"In fact the more I look at the really big iron age ones I am convinced that they must have been domes if they had any hope of being a structure at all particularly the ones which show no evidence of internal posts although even if they do they could have been for scaffolding."

Uo1, what's the biggest round house you know of which doesn't have internal posts - the biggest reconstructions are the Butser ones which are double ring, the largest I have recontructed is an internal diameter sigle ring. I reckon its possible to build larger single ring withoughtmaking them up as domes (a method which would raise all sorts of problems in terms of shedding water from the tip of the thatch)although until someone will sponsor me to the tune of quite a lot of squid I can't try building a larger one.

[Unitof1]

The ones where they say this cant be a round house as its got no internal posts it must be a fenced palisade enclosure hengeform so it never gets called a round house. I have never found a post in any, just holes. I hope that when you did your reconstructions you did an excavation before building. Some bunch of non archaeologists got 25 grand round my way to build their fantasy of an iron age round house to entertain delinquents but I havent been round to burn it down yet as that should undermine their scheme. I might look stupid what you looking at .
whats the tip shedding drip problem.

[BAJR Host]

theres an archaeologist I want to have on a site... postholes, pits... all bleedin 'oles to me!

The perfect arcaheologist for a developer though... nope... no arcaheology here... just some holes.. and er... stones (in a line) whtcha call that again... wall or sumfink?

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[m300572]

The last ones I built (the single ring ones) were based on excavtions at Glastonbury Lake Village where the bases of the posts actually did survive, as did multiple phases of fireplace and layers of charcoal and burnt reed suggesting the roof had burned.

The Butser ones are also based on excavated sites. Anyway, have you got any posts to show its palisaded - they might have just been holes in the ground or stubs of wood level with ground level so not really a palisade. Where abouts is the roundhouse that got the ?25 k (which sounds about right for a reasonable sized house unles you are employing slaves to gather the materials, which is the biggest element of the work, and how big is it?

Tip shedding drip problem - straw/reed bundles as used for thatch are not inherently waterproof - thatc hworks by shedding water off the outer layers faster than it can soak through the thatch so at 45-55 degrees water will run down the outer cm or so thickness of the thatch and not penetrate into the body of the material. The tip (and ridge of modern thatched houses) decays fairly fast as the water isn't shed from there so it rots faster and thatched houses need to be re-ridged every ten to 15 years, wher the main part of the roof can last for 50-60 years before needing redone (and even then often just needs a new layer added). A dome, by its very shape has a large area at the top which is well below the 45 degree angle and so water will run through the thatch at the top, so you will have a dripping roof every time it rains. Water in the thatch leads to it (and the fastenings which hold the thatch to the roof) rotting so in not many years your roof would disintegrate. Dome shaped buldings in climates similar to ours tend not to be thatched - the NE woods indians in N America covered their wigwams and longhouses with sheets of bark.

[Dirty Dave Lincoln]

Unit,define alternative religions please,do you mean any other than Christianity?if so why would they want to use our Churches? surely they would want to build places of worship unique to their own faith.

[Unitof1]

More or less omnipotent bodies?

[Dirty Dave Lincoln]

Hmmm sounds a bit like heresy to me ("get the fires lit were gonna have an old fashion witch burning "),if the dome is just to keep the rain off your head while digging get an umbrella-works for me!

[Unitof1]

have they got a toilet at stow yet?