The final stage of Operation "Gazebo" :-)

I designed the tent with four characteristics in mind. The tent had to be:
* aesthetically pleasing
* airy and breezy (to keep us cool in above-100-F temperatures)
* strong (to withstand 70-mph wind gusts of the Black Rock Desert)
* roomy (to accommodate twelve people)

The tent is 13 x 8 x 13 feet (13:8 is the Golden Ratio). The roof is made of four loosely attached panels arranged in a spiral-like manner. To create a large open space inside the tent, I designed a bamboo flying buttress, which hangs on the four corner supports using a system of tightly tensioned ropes, and itself supports the center of the roof raised high above the floor.

It took me five weeks to design and build the roof. The roof panels, held together with 1440 hand stitches and 120 rope ties, consumed 4 cans of glue (~4 sq. meters of glued surfaces), 21 sq. meters of fabric, and 128 meters of rope.