H13

2011 will be the first year the H13 is used at Burning Man, so we can't say it's been "playa tested". It's been suggested that you over-engineer for wind and circular strength, consider building it foldable at home to test and refine, and maybe ask for help and comments at http://groups.google.com/group/hexayurt H13 pilot builders of Burning Man 2011: godspeed and good luck.

H13survey.jpgH13 backview.jpg

Video makes the H13 design much easier to understand:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3IcFSTYn2g


The H13 is a brilliant improvement on a longstanding hexayurt problem. Compared to the common 8' hexayurt, one more panel gets you increased standing room and a face on which to put a full-height door. This would be a great option for Burning Man participants. It is "H13" because it uses 13 panels instead of the 12 required for the standard 8' hexayurt (and, doesn't that name sound awesome?)
To learn about hexayurt development for disaster relief and other applications, see [www.hexayurt.com the hexayurt project.] If you want to make your own hexayurt, first see the how-to page, written particularly for Burning Man participants. Here you will find a description of the various shapes and sizes of hexayurts so you can pick the best one for you.

There's some debate about the practicality of the "taller" hexayurts (H13 versus the 10'), mostly because they're new designs that haven't been tested multiple times in playa conditions. The 10' might have more stability than expected because it is symmetrical, doesn't have the protruding, high face of the H13, and is more reliable to tie down (especially with a rope halo, because the loads on the rope halo or tape anchors will be equal. Asymmetrical structures, like H13, are just unpredictable. In general, the 10' is a conceptually simpler design to build. Structural engineers have been known to side with the 10' hexayurt over the H13 for structural reasons. The H13 also lures one into building a human-sized door on the high 8' wall, however a door that size will cut into the tape tension ring that also creates stability in the hexayurt. At the end of the day, the common 8' hexayurt is still amazing because of its symmetry, low air drag (due to low height) and simple assembly.

H13 live.jpg

H13 plywood

Inventors, family, variations

  • http://hexayurt.com
  • Vinay Gupta invented the basic shape for regular hexayurts and a number of variations, and placed it in the Public Domain. This allows others to develop the original idea further. Known developments are here, also in the Public Domain.
  • Scott Davis and Dylan Toymaker invented the H13, which solves one of the oldest quirks of the hexayurt design – how do you get a full height door way? Scott took a creative leap, switched around a couple of triangles, and came up with a design which for just one additional sheet of plywood gets you a structure with a full 8′ entry-way, much more interior walkable space (see below), and (subjectively) a much better over-all aesthetic. It's here. Vinay regards it "a fantastic piece of work", and "suspect(s) it will become a very common hexayurt in years to come"

http://dylantoymaker.net/toybox/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/hexastage4.jpg

How to build it

This PDF H13 Instruction.pdf can serve as a guide for making an H13 hexayurt, with the option of using the Camp Danger Hexayurt Hinge Technique. Hinges make the yurt prefabricated and semi-folding using only tape, meaning much less construction work, no mitering required. The Camp Danger Hexayurt Hinge Technique site gives instructions on creating the tape-hinges described in the PDF; between those two resources it should be very easy to create an H13 as a semi-folding yurt. Here's a fairly mediocre video of a Camp-Danger H13. Warning: this shape yurt has not yet been built full scale using hinges, but it should work. Also, don't forget to go to the hexayurt playa page for a full discussion of hexayurt materials, transport, and other building ideas for doors and windows and such.

A slightly modified semi-folding design is explained at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CIqUJf76ZNPmZtZ4Xk_2t7aAkJypT9yKXsdzlNor0z4/edit?hl=en_US. This design uses only tight hinges on the roof to produce two pieces that need to be combined at assembly.

http://ohyah.ca/category/projects/hexayurt/

They can be built in "threes", like 1/16 of http://dylantoymaker.net/toybox/2010/10/20/hexayurt/ and in "nines".

Paper models

Standing room

Regular 8' hexayurts are built with 12 panels: 6 for the walls, and 6 (cut through the diagonal to make triangles) for each of the parts of the roof. If the panels are 4' x 8', then the roofs goes from 4' to 8' at its peak. Height of human adults is between 5' and 6', so there is proper standing room in, say, slightly over 50% of the floor.

The H13 uses 13 panels. One half of the roof is the "classic" shape, and one half of the roof is increased to 8' (so far called a "gable" or the "tall half,") and standing room is not 6 "B" triangles but 6+4, so a 67% increase.

The (currently theoretical) H14, which uses 14 panels to put the same "gable" shape as the H13 on both sides of the hexayurt, has even more standing room: more than twice the available standing room of the good old H12.

H13standingroom.jpg

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