Working Drawings

The competition was submitted in December 2012. In mid-February I received a request from Magalie Vassenet, which initiated the project by Horizons staff requested a clarification on the polycarbonate. Magalie was determined in testing my ability to dill with all the installation logistics and stay on budget. In early March I received a final notice that my installation was chosen. Upon receiving these good news the "obstacle race" to realize the concept from scratches into real installation had began.

After the joyful moment of being part of Horizons 2013 the real work started. I did not have a survey plan and sufficient information regarding the nature of the ground. I traveled to France in March to visit the site. I arranged meeting with Magalie, but it turned out that the area in late March, still covered with snow and it was impossible to check the site.

Basically, due to the logistical complexities of working from oversea and having my daily architectural assignment, I tried to design the installation with affordable materials, simple construction, preparation of a significant portion of the work  in Israel in order to minimize the days of assembly in situ.

Everything seems really simple ... But reality tells its own story ...

Construction Design

It was obvious to me that my partner to this work is Zuki Rokach, a structural engineer with an open mind, always ready for challenges and unusual topics. From our experience as architects we evaluated a minimal support for the installation due to the polycarbonate low weight - a hundred kilos for the whole installation. According to our intuition we have figured we need two supports for each row and ended it with a structural console. Zuki proposed a different solution taking in consideration the wind forces. We found our initial  ideas of light structure far away from the needed solution. Zuki and I held a number of meetings and exchange of emails before formulation of the current solution combines "rafts" of wood, a "catamaran" be covered with earth to get the stabilization that is required. The final design was heavier in comparison to my original concept but I decided not to argue with wind forces.

Construction system

     

 

3D

  

Parametric processing of the installation

While determining the construction principles it was necessary to adjust the installation system to a simpler modulation, without losing the charm of the sketch. A number of alternatives were examined until the selection of the desired option.

    

    

 

Construction Steps

 

Panels

Packaging and shipping

A great deal of the time and preparation was the delivery. I had checked a few delivery companies and I chose Fedex. This is an opportunity to thank Omri and Hila who supported this process and made sure everything will take place. I have learn many things concerning the delivery itself. First, there is the a regular weight and there is a " Weight Capacity". In my case, the weight was 100 kg, but the capacity weight is what I had to take into account. In order to reduce the expenses, each package had to be no more than 70 kg. I used Excel for compactization in order to arrange the numbers and deduce the volume. It was like playing Tetris....

 

The delivery company promises a certain time of delivery. This does not include the time of security inspections and customs (which can take a week or more, not including holidays and strikes). According to this information , I got stressed and decided to send the parcels 2 weeks in advanced.

The delivery day arrives, and a big truck parks in front of my office. Everything worked like a clock. After the security check, the delivery arrived to Paris, went through customs (unexpected expense of 26.5%), and was delivered to Clermont Ferrand.

A day before my departure to France, I called Fedex Clermont-Ferrand. After talking with a few people in the company, finally I found someone who speaks English. According to records, the package is on its way to the apartment in Besse, only I am still in Israel and there is no one to accept the package at its destination in Besse. The Fedex representative told me I have to be the one to accept it, or else it will be sent to somewhere else, and I will have to go there and pick it up. I spent a lot of time trying to convince him to hold the delivery until Wednesday the 5th of June, the original date of the delivery. I hope there will be no more misunderstandings.