Today we found a suitable mesh material that could possibly be used for our final structure. We have also found bamboo and a suitable twine to bind our bamboo with. We have a large quantity of glowsticks that we can use for our prototype! We have been developing our structure and have designed it to be more modular making it easier for us to construct on the day. We are planning to have about five modules of our bamboo structure that can slot together easily and quickly.
We have also reconsidered the idea of using a pully system. The ropes may slip off the pullys and if the pullys are 8m high then it will be impossible for us to fix it if this were to happen on the night. We have decided to use rings instead. We will thread the rope through the ring and the rope will have no chance of slipping out. We are currently looking into binding.
Current population of Thekla: 3
Sam, Katy and Amir
Come along and get involved in our project on the 16th of October and become a Theklian!
Cities and the Sky By Italo Calvino
Those who arrive at Thekla can see little of the city, beyond the plank fences, the sackcloth screens, the scaffoldings, the metal armatures, the wooden catwalks hanging from ropes or supported by sawhorses, the ladders, the trestles. If you ask "Why is Thekla's construction taking such a long time?" the inhabitants continue hoisting sacks, lowering leaded strings, moving long brushes up and down, as they answer "So that it's destruction cannot begin." And if asked whether they fear that, once the scaffoldings are removed, the city may begin to crumble and fall to pieces, they add hastily, in a whisper, "Not only the city."
If, dissatisfied with the answers, someone puts his eye to a crack in a fence, he sees cranes pulling up other cranes, scaffoldings that embrace other scaffoldings, beams that prop up other beams. "What meaning does your construction have?" he asks. "What is the aim of a city under construction unless it is a city? Where is the plan you are following, the blueprint?" "We will show it to you as soon as the working day is over; we cannot interrupt our work now," they answer.
Work stops at sunset. Darkness falls over the building site. The sky is filled with stars. "There is the blueprint," they say.
About Me
- The Theklians. Dwellers of the City of Thekla.
- Sky-rise Cities is a competition run by the University of Auckland School of Architecture which requires groups of 2 or 3 to build a skyrise with a minimum height of 8 meters. We previously had a space of 2.5m by 2.5m to build in but this has been reduced to 2m by 2m. The structure must be self supporting and can not be propped up, hung or supported by another structure. Our brief was to find a story and convey our interpretation of that story through a structure.Our idea for the Skyrise Cities project is based on the story "Cities and the Sky" by Italo Calvino.
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