TENT - [Fwd: [Fwd: Fwd: al-jisr: Fw: Stand back - the wind's kicking up]]

Tanya Guptill tguptill at teleport.com
Wed Dec 29 11:16:25 PST 1993


Thought this might be of interest to the Guild:
(I had to laugh at the comment--Tent Project 2000--I already have mine going,
too.  What sort of Tent Projects 2000 are the guild members working on?)

> From: "Adam MacDonald" <twobears at cts.com>
> To: "al~jisr" <al-jisr at al-mustarib.org>
>  Greetings to the List!
>
> In answer to Wijdan regarding Bedu tents, I have prepared two (2) sets of
>  answer.
>
> 1. Nifty tents, however, in order to 'work' they require **FAR** more
> space
>  than would be tolerated at an event like Pennsic (where space is at a
>  premium).
>
>  That's the short, smart-ass answer.
>
>  Now before y'all go climbing my rack, let me explain.  First off, I'm a
>  former architect in training, who has made a study of tensile architecture
>  (tents), believing that culture shapes housing and vice versa.
>
>  Tents are often more complex than they seem, regarding such things as
>  building stresses, and circulation.  A mistake I often see being made in
>  historical tentage is trying to improve upon thousands of years (in some
> cases0 of in-the-field testing.
>
>  These tent are also often designed for a VERY SPECIFIC climate...Let's
>  examine the black tent of the Bedu first.
>
>
>  The black tents, named for their appearance, are constructed from long,
>  narrow strips (about 48" wide) of dark goat's wool cloth.  This strip are
>  often pinned (!) together to form a large rectangle.  The interior is
>  supported by a system of poles, with the center ridge held up by a pair of
>  crossed poles set into a carved wooden cross piece known as the shoe.
> there
>  are also smaller, single poles around the perimeter of the tent - these
> tend
> to be 3.5 to 4 foot tall.
>
>
>  First off, the Bedu live in a very arid and windy enviroiment and the tent
> is designed for this..
>
>  Rain:
>  Waterproofing is unnecessary in their case as rain is an infrequent
>  occurance.  The small amount of precipitation the tents see is handled by
>  the fibers of the goatswool swelling and becoming somewhat less permeable.
>  A real rain means the family gets soaked (no biggie, the weather will
> change
>  back to normal soon...).
>
>  Wind:
>  The way to keep what is essentially a very large sunshade from becoming a
>  kite, is to distribute the force of the as widely as possible.  In the
> case
>  of the black tent this is done with main ropes that vary from 50 to 100
> feet
>  long!  The extreme length of the ropes gives the necessary 'give' needed
> to
>  avoid becoming airborne.
>
>  Does this sound like Pennsic?  Doesn't even sound like Estrella!
>
> Shortening the ropes means weakening the overall weather-worthiness of the
>  structure drastically.  That coupled with this tent's inability to shed
> rain
>  make this, in my opinion, a somewhat poor choice for the Pennsic
> enviroment
>
>  This doesn't mean I'm trying to discourage you (or anyone else) from
>  building one - just that certain elements of design that ARE REQUIRED to
>  make the tent viable are at odds with the very enviroment in which you
> will
> be using it.
>
> The black tent is a fabulous, lovely piece of portable architecture, in
> fact
> I'm planning on that being Tent Project 2000 (Tent Project 1999 is a set
> of
>  four -4- matching 16' gers for Estrellla, Oy!).  But, I also live in a
>  coastal desert that has (relatively) small amounts of rainfall and
> campsites
>  where I can Use 30 to 40 foot lines (at least at our Potrero wars - late
>  spring and late summer).
>
>  Suggested reading (should be required IMO)
> The Architecture of the Nomads by Thorvald Faegre
>  This is the Bible for anyone foolish enough (like me) to want to build
> their
>  own version of historical and/or ethnic tentage.  It has everything from
> the
>  Mongol ger to the Plains tepee, to Berber black tents (yummy!) to ?!.  It
> is
>  long out of print (but comes up on BestBookBuys quite often...)
>
>  Shelter Published by Shelter Publications in Bolinas CA
>  A great picture book, large format.  Published in 1976 during the height
> f
> the "Woodbutchers'  homebuidling/homesteading era" this is also a must
> have.
>  These folks also have a WWW site (don't have the URL handy...)

<snip>

>
>
>  Anyone who wants to talk tents, let me know...
>
> Sasha (who is thinking of changing his name to 'Khayyam')
>
>  *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
> > > Mykola Alecksandr Shlahetka
> > >
> > > Khakhan of the Mangudi
> > > Known among the Tatars as Sasha Khan
> > >
> > > (and the Arabs as al-Dubbun)
> > >
> > > Barony of Calafia - Kingdom of Caid
> > > (san Diego, California)
> > >
> > >
> >
> >--------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >Al Jisr Web Page                        http://www.al-mustarib.org/al-jisr
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Livin' la vida meshuggah,
> Lord Daveed of Granada, mka J. Kriss White,
> Barony of Calafia, Kingdom of Caid
> email - jkrissw at earthling.net  ||  AOL IM - jkrissw  ||  ICQ #1824702
> (hobbies & interests web page: <http://members.aol.com/JkrissW/index.html>)

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