The Indoor Pavilion:
The basic design concept for this pavilion was to make something that was:
1. Lightweight
2. Compact
3. Reasonably cheap
4. Easy to transport and erect
The construction of the pavilion can be separated into two parts... the
construction of the frame and the tent or fabric portion of the pavilion. These
will each be addressed separately.
The pavilion presented is based on a 5' x 5' pavilion. The height you can
determine... but remember that the ceiling in your house is 8' tall.... this a
common ceiling height in most modern buildings.... 10' is also fairly common in
public spaces.... above that... well....
The Pavilion Frame:
The frame is constructed of easily acquired materials... most hardware stores
should have what you need... The only tools you will need is a drill (a drill
press is desirable because the holes should be as straight as possible...) and a
jigsaw (sometimes called a saber saw). As you can see from Figure 1,
most of the parts involved are pretty straight forward. Parts B, D, and E are
just dowel rods (or closet rods in the case of B & E). Parts A, C and F are made
from pieces of 4" x 4" pine/fir (cheap stuff).
The round base (G) is made from 1/4" fibreboard. You can use plywood or any
other structurally stiff material for the base but chose wisely... this is the
key piece that keeps your pavilion from falling over!
So that we can all talk the same language as we begin our construction, lets
define the pieces:
A: Cone (6" x 4" x 4"0
B: Upper pole (1 1/4" x 32")
C: Hub (10" x 4" x 4")
D: Spreader arms (3/4" x 42 ½") (4 pieces)
E: Lower pole (1 1/4" x 65")
F: Receiver (12" x 4" x 4")
G: Round base (1/4" thick by 27" diam. circle)
.... ummm... and about 230" of 1/4" white cotton clothesline...
The Cone:
Figure 2 shows a "cut away" of the cone construction as can be done on
a simple pavilion.
The optional hole on the top of the cone is to take a dowel that a:) will help
to hold the fabric centered... a basically good idea, and b:) will provide a
spike for you to mount a pennon pole of some sort at the peak of your pavilion
(more height though!!!)
The bottom hole is about 2" deep and of whatever diameter you choose to use for
your center pole.
The cone shape at the top will help to support the fabric without having sharp
edges that can tear it. It can be shaped on a lathe, or similar results can be
achieved using chisels or draw knives.
The Hub:
Again... the holes in the top and bottom are the diameter of your center pole...
the holes bored around the center of the hub (the 3/4" diameter holes) are to
receive the spreader arms. These holes are drilled about 1 ½" in depth....
Remember that Figure 3 is a cutaway view... there are four spreader arms.
In this drawing, the ends of the Hub on the pavilion have been turned. You don’t have to if you don’t have access to a lathe or want
to do that much chisel work...
The Receiver/Round Base:
The receiver/base assembly is probably the most critical part of the pavilion
from a structural point of view. Although the receiver is nothing more than a
piece of 4 x 4 material with a hole drilled in the top (yep... diameter of your
center pole and 2" deep...).... It is critical that it be secured to the round
base in such a manner that there is no wobble in the assembly.
Although there are any number of possible ways to create this assembly, Figure 4
shows a reasonable design for this construction.... Note that there are 4 - 3"
long wood screws that come up through the fiberboard base and into the 4" x 4"
receiver.... By placing 4 screws (one in each corner of the base...) and gluing
the receiver to the fiberboard as well, the attachment should have little risk
of coming apart.
The Upper and Lower Poles and the spreader arms:
The dimensions given in the parts list are for one possible pavilion design. If you change any of the dimensions other things will, of
course change too.
If you should decide to make the footprint of your pavilion larger than 5' x 5'
then you will need longer spreader arms...
The diameters given are, again, one possible design. These are structurally
sufficient without being unacceptably heavy.
Oh, yea... In Figure 1 there is a detail that shows a notch at the end of each
spreader arm... This would be a good time to create those notches!!! (Hint: they
should be just under 1/4" in width... this will allow the cotton clothes line to
fit into them snugly...)
The Pavilion Fabric:
It is possible to create sloped sides. Furthermore, you can place your belongings on
a "ground flap" that would extend around the interior of the pavilion (about 1
ft. of excess material at the bottom of each wall), which would hold the sides out.
This will involve cutting a lot of angles. A simpler design is outlined in the
following procedure to make straight sides.
If you do feel like exploring the geometries of sloped sides you will find two
possible benefits...
1:) The sides will hang "fuller" because of the extra material at the bottom...
it can be a kind of cool look if it works right...
2:) The pavilion can have a sort of natural "expansion capability". If you find
that there is plenty of room at the site you’re setting it up in you can "stake
out" the base... otherwise the sides will hang straight down and take up a mere
5‘ x 5'.
The first step here is to get the pieces cut out.... In the simplest form there
will be roof pieces and wall pieces...
Wall Pieces:
If you stay with the 5' x 5' "standard", you have the option of either finding
material in a 60" width and making each wall section as a single piece or piece
together material such that you can create panels that are 60" (remember to
include seam allowances) wide by whatever length you need.
The length can be determined by setting up your frame (with the spreaders) and
measuring the distance from the spreader to the ground. To this distance, add ½"
for the seam at the top of the wall, 9" to 12" for a "ground flap" and perhaps
another ½" for the lower hem. You will need 3 wall sections of this
type....Now... you will need a door on one side of your pavilion. To make this
wall/door section you will need two pieces of material... one will be ½ of the
width of your standard wall section... the other will be ½ the width plus a foot
or so for an overlap on the inside of the doorway.
Figure 5 illustrates the assembly of the wall sections.... All of the upper
edges will be sewn into the roof.
If you are intending to stencil, silkscreen or otherwise embellish your
pavilion, it is recommended that you do it before you sew up your fabric!!
Ceiling Pieces:
Cutting the ceiling pieces is a bit trickier than the walls... now, those of you
who are experienced with such things will probably not have any problems but
some of us like to suffer a lot... soooo... here is one method to use.
The trick is to determine the height of the line that goes from the midpoint
between B1 and B2 in Figure 6. Now we know, in the case of the pavilion
described in these plans. That the distance between B1 and B2 is 5 feet. But if
you are weak in math, the best
way to figure stuff out is probably to measure... therefore... SET UP YOUR FRAME!
Once you have the frame set up, measure the distance between B1 and B2 (as shown
in the upper portion of Figure 7). If you have build your pavilion according to
the measurements given in this plan, the distance should be very close to 5 feet
(give or take a bit...)
Then... find the half way point on a line between B1 and B2 and measure from
that point to point A. On your fabric, layout a triangle as shown in figure
6.... Now... if you measure the length from the point B1 to A on your fabric...
and from B2 to A on your fabric... it should be very close to the distance from
B1 to A on the frame and from B2 to A on the frame...
If it isn’t... start your measurements all over. The nice thing about this is
that once you get one side measured... all of the sides will be alike. When you
cut out your pieces however, add an extra ½ inch for a seam allowance.... But...
If you top fits a bit too tight... just trim (slightly... ever so slightly) the
spreaders until the fit is snug but not pulling excessively on the material.
You really need to measure your top... Measurements could be given here but if you
cut your upper pole a bit long, drilled your holes a bit shallow or a bit deep
or anyone of a dozen possible things... well, all the measurements would change
anyway... So, go through the drill and commence with the measuring... Again...
if you are planning any decoration... do it before you sew up the roof..
Sewing...
To construct your pavilion, sew the wall sections together on the long seams.
Sew the ceiling panels together on the diagonal seams. (Note: leave a small hole
at the peak so that the spike can come through the material...). Then, sew the
walls to the ceiling... Handling this much fabric can be a challenge but it is
do-able....
Other Things...
It is recommended adding a bit of canvas at the peak to re-enforce the
seams at the top of the pavilion. This can be accomplished by making a dagged cap (see the cover picture) of canvas and
then sewing the ceiling piece to it...
In addition, you might want to consider dagging around the eves of the
pavilion... if you choose to do this, construct your dags following the pattern
of your choice and then sew the walls, ceiling and dags together in a single
step.
Have fun and make stuff -