Home
Medieval
Pavilion Structure and Decoration
Pavilions are great. Over
the last decade we've gone from nylon tents to the point where many
people have nice canvas pavilions. This is wonderful. However, I have never
quite been satisfied with most commercial pavilion designs. For one thing, they
are all designed for short people -- I cannot see outside from inside the tent.
Some time ago I observed
that the most common pavilion in period manuscript illustrations was a round
pavilion with a single center pole. Commercial designs for these pavilions
aren't satisfactory. I started looking at medieval and Renaissance
illustrations of simple round pavilions, and I made a couple of observations.
1.
No Perimeter Poles.
Period pavilions did not use poles (perimeter poles) to hold up the edges. A
search of hundreds of illustrations of pavilions revealed none that had
anything that could be construed to be perimeter poles. Many of them show a
wide section of the opening, where perimeter poles would be visible if they
existed, without any such poles. No illustration has any sort of finial
decoration, protruding spike, hole, or rope formation that would give positive
evidence of a perimeter pole. Some illustrations show a pavilion opened up, so
the center pole is visible, without showing any perimeter poles (see figure 3).
Finally, in two particular illustrations there is evidence against perimeter
poles. The first such illustration shows a group of soldiers breaking camp.
They have removed the walls from a pavilion, but the roof is still up. There
are no perimeter poles. shows this illustration.
The second such
illustration is even more evocative. It shows a military camp after a storm has
blown through. Some of the pavilions have been knocked over. One in particular
is partially on its side, but retains the conical shape of a single-pole
pavilion. This is impossible with a perimeter pole construction, and is strong
positive evidence for the spoked-wheel construction that I will describe later.
Sadly, I've lost my copy of this illustration, so I couldn't include it with
this handout. I'm still looking for it, though.
2.
Ropes are uncommon.
Most period pavilions did not hold up the eaves with ropes, either. A large
number of pavilions didn't even have ropes. Very few pavilions have the ropes
at an angle broad enough to support the eaves without some internal structure.
Two significant exceptions are in frescoes by Simone Martini (c. 1330). The pavilions
shown are festooned with ropes, and the angle and number of the ropes make it
possible that these pavilions had no internal support structure. They also look
droopy and saggy, unlike the taut pavilions shown in most other illustrations.
3.
Splayed walls.
The majority of period pavilions had splayed walls, wider at the base than at
the eaves. There are some exceptions, pavilions with vertical walls (see
figures 4 and 20), but they are not nearly as common.
Based upon the evidence
of manuscript illustrations and paintings, the most common period pavilion type
is a center-pole pavilion, circular or polygonal, with splayed walls and no
ropes. See figure 2 for a good example of this type of pavilion.
So the question then
becomes, `How did the pavilion gain its shape?' Clearly some sort of internal
structure is used. My first experiment was using an internal wooden hoop, bound
into the eaves of the pavilion. This turned out to be awkward, ungainly,
time-consuming, and unstable. It was hard to put up and involved a lot of
awkward pieces. In any sort of wind it shifted around and distorted. It was
impossible to tie down securely, as tightening the ropes distorted it still
further, and eventually the hoop broke while being bent and warped by the wind.
So that experiment
failed. On a large pavilion the hoop technique was inherently unstable and
fragile. Very frustrating; I had the cloth for a fine pavilion, and no way to
put it up.
At this point I saw a
pavilion owned by Sir Xenophon and Mistress Celynen. Their pavilion was made by
a company in England that supplies pavilions to a number of historical and re-
enactment
groups. As I understand it, the design is based upon a 15th century Burgundian
pavilion in the Bern Museum in Switzerland. Their pavilion used a spoked-wheel
construction, with the hub passing through the center pole and the spokes
supporting the eaves. This system would explain the `pavilion after the storm'
illustration in a way that perimeter poles or hoops could not.
So I built a spoked-wheel
structure for my pavilion, and found that my awkward-duckling pavilion had
turned into a swan.
Spoked-Wheel
Pavilion Structure
The
load-bearing element of the pavilion is a single stout pole in the center. In
my pavilion this is an oaken pole 2" across. My original center pole was
pine, 1.5" in diameter, and tended to bend slightly but alarmingly. Oak is
much stronger than softwoods like pine.
A wheel-hub is placed 7'
up the center pole. The hub slides down over the pole before it is lifted into
position, and rides on a brace there. The hub has 12 shallow holes along its
edge to take the spokes of the wheel.
The spokes are simple
octagonal poles with a 1.5" cross section, slightly less than 6' long. One
end has a 10' rope coming out of it. The rope fits through a grommet in the
tent eave, then runs outside to a stake. The other end is tapered to a
cylinder, so it will fit inside a hole in the hub.
Advantages
of the Spoked-Wheel Design
A number of advantages
quickly became evident after I modified my hoop tent into a spoked-wheel
design. It is faster to put up or take down. Ropes aren't necessary. The tent
is stable, and the roof stays taut in spite of weather. There is also more
usable space inside.
·
Fast Raise/Lower:
a single person could put up the whole pavilion (nearly 20' diameter at the
base) alone. With two or three people, the pavilion went up and came down very
quickly indeed -- five minutes or so, once the edge is staked out. Packing up
with a storm threatening last Pennsic, three people took down a 19 base
pavilion in about ninety seconds (without folding the canvas carefully).
·
No ropes are needed:
as I used my pavilion, it quickly became clear that the ropes were unnecessary.
The tent needs almost no support from the ropes, and I usually don't even
bother to attach them. Since the walls are staked out at an angle, the walls
themselves support the roof without the need of ropes.
·
Stability: the erected
single-pole pavilion is very stable, with excellent wind-shedding
characteristics. The splayed walls give the pavilion a streamlined shape that
is largely immune to the effects of winds that would knock down a
straight-walled pavilion. This feature was tested at Pennsic XXV, when a number
of modern nylon tents and perimeter-pole pavilions were knocked down by storm
winds triggered by a tornado touch down less than 20 miles from the site. The
pavilion rode out the weather with no ill effects.
·
Taut roof: the roof stays
taut as a side effect of the design. Perimeter-pole designs require constant
attention in storms because puddles of water develop at the eaves as the ropes
get wet and stretch. This doesn't happen with a spoked-wheel-supported roof.
·
Space: the amount of
usable space inside a spoked-wheel pavilion is much larger than inside a
comparably sized perimeter pole pavilion. No poles interfere with the space
available at the (swagged-out) edges of the pavilion.
·
And finally, the number of parts to transport are
less than with a comparable-sized perimeter-pole design.
The design also has a
number of minor benefits. The Pavilion has a `loft' available, created by the
roof spokes. This can be very useful for hanging wet clothing. The spokes can
also be used to hang cloth dividers, allowing a lot of freedom in subdividing
the available space. Decorative tapestries, painted wall hangings, banners, and
fancy cloth walls can be used to make internal rooms.
Medieval
Pavilion Decoration
If
you peruse the various illustrations included in the handout, you will see a
broad range of decorative techniques. Some pavilions are undecorated, plain
canvas. Some are enormously fancy, with bright colours, interior lining, and
spiral-carved center poles. In between these two extremes you can see a number
of pavilions which are basically white canvas with painted linear designs,
gothic arches, and similar simple decorations. Some are just in one colour,
some are in two or three.
Plain, undecorated pavilions are shown in
figures 2, 4, 9, 13, and 21. Some of these are in pictures with other decorated
pavilions.
Simple designs, often no
more than decorative lines on the seams, can be seen on the pavilions in
figures 1, 4, 18, 23, and 25. These would be easy to paint on a pavilion in a
few hours, for minimal cost.
One of the commoner
decoration techniques for medieval pavilions is various types of gothic arches,
painted on the walls of pavilions with associated designs on the roofs.
Although more complicated than the simple linear decorations, these too are
easy to paint on a pavilion with a little bit of preparation, even in a single
afternoon. Examples of these decorations can be found in figures 6, 8, 10, 14,
17, 20, and 24.
Complex multi-colored
patterns painted on white canvas are less common, but still occur. Figures 5
and 15 show two examples of such pavilions.
Broad stripes and bands
of color are also used. This decorative technique requires using colored
canvas, either buying it the appropriate color or dying it yourself. An early
(13th century) example can be seen in figure 14, a later (Tudor) one at the top
of figure 26.
Some pavilions are shown
in solid colors, often with painted decoration or accents. Examples are figures
3, 7, 11, 12, 19, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29. These are the richest looking
pavilions, and are often used in illustrations to denote the pavilions of the
wealthiest and most powerful nobles and kings. Some of the full-colour
pavilions are shown with contrasting linings of decorative fabric.
Finally, many pavilions are marked with the
arms of their owners. This is often combined with simple linear decoration or
decorative arches. Examples can be found in figures 1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 18, 23, and
25.
Making a
Single-pole Pavilion
There
are two simple shapes to sew together: a series of pie pieces for the roof, and
a series of trapezoids for the walls. The trapezoids have a rectangular flap at
the bottom to help shed rain. The only other complication is the possibility of
a running band at the eaves.
I will describe
dimensions for three separate designs: a small tent suitable for a dayshade,
changing tent, or one or two people; a larger multipurpose pavilion; and a
large pavilion suitable for use as a great hall at events, sleeping a whole
household, and so on. All of the dimensions I describe are calculated based
upon finding 60" wide canvas. The bottom edges of the wall trapezoids, on
all three designs, are exactly 60" across. If your canvas has different
dimensions you may need to redesign. For example, if you have 96" wide
canvas, it is possible to construct an 8-spoke pavilion with 6' spokes.
The small tent uses 8
spokes 4' long. It is 11' tall, 13' diameter on the ground (134 square feet
area), and requires 32 yards of canvas to construct. The cost of this tent in
materials is less than $200, depending upon the price of canvas in your area.
The pavilion has 12
spokes 6' long. It is 13' tall, nearly 20' diameter on the ground (293 square
feet area), and requires 54 yards of canvas to construct. This tent will cost
around $300 in materials by my estimate.
The large pavilion has 16
spokes 10' long. It is 17' tall, more than 25' diameter on the ground (516
square feet area), and requires 88 yards of canvas to construct. This large
pavilion will cost less than $500 in materials, depending upon the price of
canvas.
Construction
Notes
HUB:
The
easiest way to make the hub is to laminate four pieces of 3/4" plywood to
make a slab 3" thick. Use good wood glue, and be sure to use high-quality
plywood. The more laminations (layers) in the plywood the better. Once the glue
has dried, cut it to shape (8 sided, 12 sided, or 16 sided depending upon the
size of pavilion) and drill one hole in each side using a 1.5" spade bit.
You only need to go about 2" deep on each hole.
After the spoke holes are
drilled, you need to make a hole through the center of the hub large enough to
admit the center pole. The size and shape of this hole depend upon the
dimensions of the center pole.
The dimensions of the hub
are not crucial to the design of the pavilion. The important thing is that the
hub is broad enough for the holes holding the ends of the spokes (8, 12, or 16
spokes in the three designs of pavilion I describe). In my pavilion the hub is
6" radius, and the holes for the twelve spokes are 2" deep. This
means that the spokes should be 4" shorter than 6' (in other words,
5'8") so the distance from the center pole to the end of the spokes is
exactly 6'.
SPOKES:
Go
to your lumberyard and buy one 2x4 for every two spokes needed. Pick dry 2x4s
with no warp or knots. Rip the 2x4 into two 2x2s on a table saw. You can use
them with square cross-section or make them more attractive by beveling the
edges with a hand plane, joiner, router, or a tablesaw blade set at 45 degrees.
Round one end down with a rasp or file so it has no sharp corners to abrade the
tent. File the other end down to a 1.5" diameter cylinder, so it fits in
the holes of the hub. The fit does not need to be precise. The twelve spokes on
my pavilion cost less than $10 total.
CENTER POLE:
The
only important characteristics of the center pole are that it is strong enough,
the right length, and that it fits in the hole in the hub.
The center poles in
manuscript illustrations and paintings vary from moderately slim to enormously
huge (see figure 3). If you have a car with a roof rack that can take a long
pole, you might want to have a pole without any joint. If not, the following
joint system is easy and reliable.
My center pole started
out as a 7' piece of 8/4 Oak, about 6" wide. I got my fancy woodworking
store (where I found the wood) to plane it and cut it into two 7' long poles,
2" square, and some waste. The total cost to me was $25 or $30.
I then bought a 16"
section of 2" square metal pipe from a metalworking store. I cut two ends
of the 7' poles at a 60 degree (steep) angle, then fitted one end tightly into
the metal sleeve and the other one slightly more loosely.
Finally, I beveled the
top section, rounded the top and drilled a hole into it, into which I glued a
large metal spike. The result is a center pole that comes apart readily, and is
quite sturdy.
FLOOR:
The
slowest thing about putting this pavilion up is figuring out where the walls
should be properly staked. Having a floor, sized and shaped to match the base
of the pavilion can vastly accelerate this process. This floor can then be laid
out before the pavilion is put up, showing exactly where every stake goes. The
floor should be made of some durable, waterproof, rot-resistant material that
is easily cleaned. Since it is not attached to the rest of the tent it can be
easily replaced or repaired if necessary.
Sewing Notes
There
may be much better ways to do the stuff I describe below, and I'm sure that an
experienced sewing guru would know the better ways to do it. If you want to ask
such a person's advice, great. (And by the way, if you find some better way to
do some of this stuff, please let me know). If you want to just muddle through,
follow my instructions below.
Buy canvas that is
pre-treated to be water-resistant and fire-retardant, if you can get it. Buy
good canvas. This is not the place to cut corners of cost.
I strongly advise that
you not attempt to sew the pavilion without a very heavy-duty sewing machine.
You can rent these in some places, or find a friend who has one if you are
lucky. Some possibilities for renting or borrowing heavy-duty sewing machines
are university theatre departments, theatrical supply stores, or commercial
enterprises making or repairing sails or tents. Dont try to use an everyday
utility sewing machine if you can avoid it. It will be very frustrating and
take a long time, breaking a lot of needles. I'm speaking from experience,
here.
Get some experienced
sewing guru to advise you on any questions you have regarding the sewing. One
important thing to do is to get them to show you how to make a flat-felled
seam: all the seams on the pavilion should be flat-felled seams for strength.
Luckily for anyone who (like me) is a sewing ignoramus, all the seams are
straight and simple.
Cutting out the large
canvas pieces can be a chore, especially marking the long straight lines. The
easiest way to do this is to lay the fabric flat, then take a surveyors
chalk-line and use that to mark the cutting line.
You MUST allow some
appropriate seam allowance on the outside of each pie piece for the roof and of
each trapezoid for the walls. I'm not exactly sure what seam allowance is best:
I added a 1" seam allowance. If you forget to do this, you will waste an
awful lot of fabric.
First, finish all the
rain flaps on the edge of each roof pie piece. The rain flap is the 12"
deep rectangle at the bottom of the pie piece. You can dag it if you wish, hem
it or edge it with some contrasting colored edging.
Now sew all the pie
pieces for the roof together. At the peak you will need to sew a large metal
ring or grommet to the pieces. Alternatively you can take a short section of
1/2" rope (something that will not rot: nylon or hemp, not cotton) and
wrap the thin ends of the pie pieces around the rope before sewing them down.
This will leave a hole at the very peak of the roof for the center pole to go
through.
Finish the top edge of
each wall trapezoid, and the mud flap at the bottom (the rectangle 5' long by
1' deep).
Now work your way around
the tent, sewing one trapezoid on at a time. Note the dotted line on the
pattern that marks the edge of the flap -- that is where the top of the wall
must be sewn to the roof. Make sure that the roof rain flap is on the outside.
Sew the seam attaching one trapezoid to the other along the side seam as well
as the roof seam.
Before you go too far,
decide how many doors you want and where. To make a door, just finish the
adjacent vertical edges of two wall trapezoids rather than sewing them
together. I've found it very convenient to have two doors on opposite sides of
my pavilion. This allows me to open both doors and let a breeze through in hot
weather, and it is often convenient to have a back door.
Once the walls and roof
are sewn, you need to make small reinforced cups of some of the remaining scrap
canvas. These cups are sewn to the edge of the eaves. Their function is
simple--they lock one end of a spoke in the right position on the edge of the
roof. Take a square of canvas
and fold to make a triangle. Sew it down and finish the edges using any simple
method (hem, serge, whatever). Fold again, to make another triangle. Sew one
edge so that you have a triangular cup shape, with the hypotenuse open. This
sounds complicated, although it is very easy to do; I hope this illustration
will help explain it.
]Now sew the cup down (making sure not to
close the cup) so the end of the pole will fit inside the cup. Sew one such cup
at every spoke position (where the horizontal seam at the eaves crosses a
vertical seam down a pie piece and wall trapezoid).
If you want to have ropes
on the tent, sew simple loops to the outside of the eaves to take the ropes.
Stake loops are
constructed by sewing heavy-duty woven cotton straps to the bottom of each
vertical seam on the walls. Make sure you sew them down securely. You will need
one loop for every vertical seam joining two wall trapezoids; doors will
require one loop for each trapezoid edge at the door opening (two loops total).
Stakes
Get
your local blacksmith to make you enough 15" or 18" stakes. For
simple stakes it won't be very expensive, and you might as well have good
stakes for a good pavilion. If you have no local blacksmith, get some 12"
tent nails. Don't use aluminum or plastic stakes -- they won't last, and they aren't
good enough.
Optional
Detachable Walls
For the pavilion shown in
illustration 13, it is clear that the walls can be detached from the roof. I
don't really recommend this for your first pavilion. Sewing the walls to the
roof makes the whole thing more secure, less work to put up and take down, and
so on. The pavilion will not be steady (or even stay up) if one of the walls is
removed because the walls hold up the roof.
However, if you are
making a very large pavilion, it makes more sense to have the walls be
detachable so they can be transported separately. If you want to make a
pavilion with detachable walls, I advise sewing toggles and loops every six
inches across the dotted line marking the edge of the roof pie segments, and
along the finished top edge of the wall trapezoids. You will need to be very
careful and precise. Small errors in placement will cause gapping and other
problems, letting wind and weather in at the roofline.
Painting
and Decoration
Some pavilions were plain
undecorated canvas, but many of the ones shown in manuscript illustrations are
brightly coloured or painted. I haven't experimented in dyeing canvas, so I
can't give any useful advice for reproducing the beautiful full-colour
pavilions that can sometimes be found in illustrations. Consult with some local
fabric guru and experiment.
Painting a pavilion is
quite simple. Most pavilions were painted with simple lines, gothic arches, and
the like. This turns out to be quite easy to do. I bought commercial exterior
acrylic latex house paint from a local do-it-yourself store. You need to thin
the paint with water so that it soaks into the canvas a bit. This makes it much
easier to brush on in a single application -- undiluted house paint tends to
bead up on the surface. You must avoid diluting the paint too much, though, or
it will wick out from the design rather than sticking to where you apply it. I
found that thinning the paint with an equal amount of water gave me a good
consistency. As an added benefit this also cuts the cost of the paint in half,
as you get two gallons from every gallon you buy. Don't paint your pavilion
indoors -- find a big slab of clean concrete or pavement to lay the pavilion
out and paint it. The paint will bleed through the canvas slightly, so dont
paint on a surface where this will matter. Be very careful to avoid spills onto
the canvas, as they are impossible to clean up.
Most single-pole
pavilions seem to have had a decorative finial, often a golden ball. Some
pavilions have whole statues on top, as shown in figures 26 and 29. Flags are
also fairly common, sometimes in conjunction with a gold ball. A decorative
finial of some sort
makes
the pavilion look nicer, but it also has a practical purpose in plugging the
only hole in the pavilion fabric, at the top. I've experimented with a number
of simple ball designs but I haven't found one I'm really satisfied with yet.
Finally, the flap at the
end of each roof segment is often decorated. They may be dagged or painted,
sometimes with mottoes and sayings in contrasting colors to the tent.
Appendix
A: Pavilion Plans
Fabric
and Layout
These patterns are based
upon 60" wide canvas. The trapezoidal wall pieces take up the full width
of the canvas, so can only be laid out in one direction. The most efficient way
to lay out the triangular roof pie pieces is shown below. It is possible to lay
them out so as to use less fabric, but not advisable, as it involves cutting
along the bias of the fabric. Cutting along the bias will allow stretching of
the piece, which will distort the pavilion in the long run.
Appendix
B: Mathematics
All the calculations
involved in planning a pattern for a circular (actually, polygonal) pavilion
are fairly basic trigonometry. Start by drawing a scale-drawing silhouette of
the pavilion you want, with dimensions for the height of the eaves (the level
of the spoked wheel), the height from the eaves to the peak of the roof, and
the width (radius) at the eaves and at the ground. Decide how many spokes you
want. The number of spokes you wish may be fixed for you by the width of the
fabric you have -- it is not possible to make a 12-sided pavilion that is 10'
radius at the base when you only have 48" wide canvas, for example.
S = number of spokes (segments) in the
pavilion
E = radius at the eaves (where the roof
meets the top of the wall, and where the hub sits)
G = radius at ground level
H = height at the eaves
L = height from the eaves to the loft.
So the total height of the pavilion is (H +
L), and the angle Ø between any two spokes is 360/S degrees.
In addition, we will be calculating the
values for the following:
Base = width of the base of the trapezoidal
wall segments
Top = width of the top of the trapezoidal
wall segments (also the width of the base of the roof triangles)
ApparentWall = apparent height of the wall
trapezoid
ApparentRoof = apparent height of the roof
triangle
TrueWall = true height of the wall trapezoid
TrueRoof = true height of the roof triangle.
The important formula
here is that the opposite side of a segment or sector of a circle, C, can be
determined from the radius of the circle R and the angle Ø as follows:
C = 2R sin(Ø/2)
So substitute G in for R
above to calculate Base, and substitute E in for R above to calculate Top.
Base = 2 G sin(Ø/2)
Top = 2 E sin(Ø/2)
The rest is application
of the Pythagorean theorem. The length of a wall segment in your diagram is the
hypotenuse of a triangle with sides of length H and (G - E), so by Pythagorus:
ApparentWall = sqrt(H2 + (G-E)2)
Similarly, the length of
a roof segment from the diagram is the hypotenuse of a triangle with sides of
length L and E, so:
ApparentRoof = sqrt(L2 + E2)
Now as a slight
complication, the apparent lengths of the wallpiece and roofpiece on your
diagram are actually the length of the angled side of the trapezoid and the
long side of the triangle, not the true length we are interested in: the length
perpendicular to the base of the trapezoid and the roof triangle.
This necessitates one more set of
calculations using the Pythagorean theorem.
TrueWall = sqrt(ApparentWall2 -
((Base-Top)/2)2) = sqrt(H2 + (G-E)2 - ((Base-Top)/2)2)
TrueRoof = sqrt(ApparentRoof2 - (Top/2)2) = sqrt(L2
+ E2 - (Top/2)2)
Now all that remains is
to add a 6" wide rain flap at the bottom of the roof piece, and a 12"
wide mud flap at the base of the wall trapezoid.
I strongly recommend
cutting a 1/12 scale model of your pavilion out of paper and taping it together
before you cut any fabric. This is a good way to ensure that your pavilion will
have the proportions you want, and check against any mathematics errors. You
might also want to make a little 1/12 scale human figure to put beside it, so
you get an idea of how big the pavilion will actually be. I didn't do this, and
I was slightly shocked at how large my little day-shade pavilion ended up. It
sure didn't look so big when I made the paper model.
Pavilion Structure and Decoration
Pavilions are great. Over
the last decade we've gone from nylon tents to the point where many
people have nice canvas pavilions. This is wonderful. However, I have never
quite been satisfied with most commercial pavilion designs. For one thing, they
are all designed for short people -- I cannot see outside from inside the tent.
Some time ago I observed
that the most common pavilion in period manuscript illustrations was a round
pavilion with a single center pole. Commercial designs for these pavilions
aren't satisfactory. I started looking at medieval and Renaissance
illustrations of simple round pavilions, and I made a couple of observations.
1.
No Perimeter Poles.
Period pavilions did not use poles (perimeter poles) to hold up the edges. A
search of hundreds of illustrations of pavilions revealed none that had
anything that could be construed to be perimeter poles. Many of them show a
wide section of the opening, where perimeter poles would be visible if they
existed, without any such poles. No illustration has any sort of finial
decoration, protruding spike, hole, or rope formation that would give positive
evidence of a perimeter pole. Some illustrations show a pavilion opened up, so
the center pole is visible, without showing any perimeter poles (see figure 3).
Finally, in two particular illustrations there is evidence against perimeter
poles. The first such illustration shows a group of soldiers breaking camp.
They have removed the walls from a pavilion, but the roof is still up. There
are no perimeter poles. shows this illustration.
The second such
illustration is even more evocative. It shows a military camp after a storm has
blown through. Some of the pavilions have been knocked over. One in particular
is partially on its side, but retains the conical shape of a single-pole
pavilion. This is impossible with a perimeter pole construction, and is strong
positive evidence for the spoked-wheel construction that I will describe later.
Sadly, I've lost my copy of this illustration, so I couldn't include it with
this handout. I'm still looking for it, though.
2.
Ropes are uncommon.
Most period pavilions did not hold up the eaves with ropes, either. A large
number of pavilions didn't even have ropes. Very few pavilions have the ropes
at an angle broad enough to support the eaves without some internal structure.
Two significant exceptions are in frescoes by Simone Martini (c. 1330). The pavilions
shown are festooned with ropes, and the angle and number of the ropes make it
possible that these pavilions had no internal support structure. They also look
droopy and saggy, unlike the taut pavilions shown in most other illustrations.
3.
Splayed walls.
The majority of period pavilions had splayed walls, wider at the base than at
the eaves. There are some exceptions, pavilions with vertical walls (see
figures 4 and 20), but they are not nearly as common.
Based upon the evidence
of manuscript illustrations and paintings, the most common period pavilion type
is a center-pole pavilion, circular or polygonal, with splayed walls and no
ropes. See figure 2 for a good example of this type of pavilion.
So the question then
becomes, `How did the pavilion gain its shape?' Clearly some sort of internal
structure is used. My first experiment was using an internal wooden hoop, bound
into the eaves of the pavilion. This turned out to be awkward, ungainly,
time-consuming, and unstable. It was hard to put up and involved a lot of
awkward pieces. In any sort of wind it shifted around and distorted. It was
impossible to tie down securely, as tightening the ropes distorted it still
further, and eventually the hoop broke while being bent and warped by the wind.
So that experiment
failed. On a large pavilion the hoop technique was inherently unstable and
fragile. Very frustrating; I had the cloth for a fine pavilion, and no way to
put it up.
At this point I saw a
pavilion owned by Sir Xenophon and Mistress Celynen. Their pavilion was made by
a company in England that supplies pavilions to a number of historical and re-
enactmentgroups. As I understand it, the design is based upon a 15th century Burgundian
pavilion in the Bern Museum in Switzerland. Their pavilion used a spoked-wheel
construction, with the hub passing through the center pole and the spokes
supporting the eaves. This system would explain the `pavilion after the storm'
illustration in a way that perimeter poles or hoops could not.
So I built a spoked-wheel
structure for my pavilion, and found that my awkward-duckling pavilion had
turned into a swan.
Spoked-Wheel
Pavilion Structure
The
load-bearing element of the pavilion is a single stout pole in the center. In
my pavilion this is an oaken pole 2" across. My original center pole was
pine, 1.5" in diameter, and tended to bend slightly but alarmingly. Oak is
much stronger than softwoods like pine.
A wheel-hub is placed 7'
up the center pole. The hub slides down over the pole before it is lifted into
position, and rides on a brace there. The hub has 12 shallow holes along its
edge to take the spokes of the wheel.
The spokes are simple
octagonal poles with a 1.5" cross section, slightly less than 6' long. One
end has a 10' rope coming out of it. The rope fits through a grommet in the
tent eave, then runs outside to a stake. The other end is tapered to a
cylinder, so it will fit inside a hole in the hub.
Advantages
of the Spoked-Wheel Design
A number of advantages
quickly became evident after I modified my hoop tent into a spoked-wheel
design. It is faster to put up or take down. Ropes aren't necessary. The tent
is stable, and the roof stays taut in spite of weather. There is also more
usable space inside.
·
Fast Raise/Lower:
a single person could put up the whole pavilion (nearly 20' diameter at the
base) alone. With two or three people, the pavilion went up and came down very
quickly indeed -- five minutes or so, once the edge is staked out. Packing up
with a storm threatening last Pennsic, three people took down a 19 base
pavilion in about ninety seconds (without folding the canvas carefully).
·
No ropes are needed:
as I used my pavilion, it quickly became clear that the ropes were unnecessary.
The tent needs almost no support from the ropes, and I usually don't even
bother to attach them. Since the walls are staked out at an angle, the walls
themselves support the roof without the need of ropes.
·
Stability: the erected
single-pole pavilion is very stable, with excellent wind-shedding
characteristics. The splayed walls give the pavilion a streamlined shape that
is largely immune to the effects of winds that would knock down a
straight-walled pavilion. This feature was tested at Pennsic XXV, when a number
of modern nylon tents and perimeter-pole pavilions were knocked down by storm
winds triggered by a tornado touch down less than 20 miles from the site. The
pavilion rode out the weather with no ill effects.
·
Taut roof: the roof stays
taut as a side effect of the design. Perimeter-pole designs require constant
attention in storms because puddles of water develop at the eaves as the ropes
get wet and stretch. This doesn't happen with a spoked-wheel-supported roof.
·
Space: the amount of
usable space inside a spoked-wheel pavilion is much larger than inside a
comparably sized perimeter pole pavilion. No poles interfere with the space
available at the (swagged-out) edges of the pavilion.
·
And finally, the number of parts to transport are
less than with a comparable-sized perimeter-pole design.
The design also has a
number of minor benefits. The Pavilion has a `loft' available, created by the
roof spokes. This can be very useful for hanging wet clothing. The spokes can
also be used to hang cloth dividers, allowing a lot of freedom in subdividing
the available space. Decorative tapestries, painted wall hangings, banners, and
fancy cloth walls can be used to make internal rooms.
Medieval
Pavilion Decoration
If
you peruse the various illustrations included in the handout, you will see a
broad range of decorative techniques. Some pavilions are undecorated, plain
canvas. Some are enormously fancy, with bright colours, interior lining, and
spiral-carved center poles. In between these two extremes you can see a number
of pavilions which are basically white canvas with painted linear designs,
gothic arches, and similar simple decorations. Some are just in one colour,
some are in two or three.
Plain, undecorated pavilions are shown in
figures 2, 4, 9, 13, and 21. Some of these are in pictures with other decorated
pavilions.
Simple designs, often no
more than decorative lines on the seams, can be seen on the pavilions in
figures 1, 4, 18, 23, and 25. These would be easy to paint on a pavilion in a
few hours, for minimal cost.
One of the commoner
decoration techniques for medieval pavilions is various types of gothic arches,
painted on the walls of pavilions with associated designs on the roofs.
Although more complicated than the simple linear decorations, these too are
easy to paint on a pavilion with a little bit of preparation, even in a single
afternoon. Examples of these decorations can be found in figures 6, 8, 10, 14,
17, 20, and 24.
Complex multi-colored
patterns painted on white canvas are less common, but still occur. Figures 5
and 15 show two examples of such pavilions.
Broad stripes and bands
of color are also used. This decorative technique requires using colored
canvas, either buying it the appropriate color or dying it yourself. An early
(13th century) example can be seen in figure 14, a later (Tudor) one at the top
of figure 26.
Some pavilions are shown
in solid colors, often with painted decoration or accents. Examples are figures
3, 7, 11, 12, 19, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29. These are the richest looking
pavilions, and are often used in illustrations to denote the pavilions of the
wealthiest and most powerful nobles and kings. Some of the full-colour
pavilions are shown with contrasting linings of decorative fabric.
Finally, many pavilions are marked with the
arms of their owners. This is often combined with simple linear decoration or
decorative arches. Examples can be found in figures 1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 18, 23, and
25.
Making a
Single-pole Pavilion
There
are two simple shapes to sew together: a series of pie pieces for the roof, and
a series of trapezoids for the walls. The trapezoids have a rectangular flap at
the bottom to help shed rain. The only other complication is the possibility of
a running band at the eaves.
I will describe
dimensions for three separate designs: a small tent suitable for a dayshade,
changing tent, or one or two people; a larger multipurpose pavilion; and a
large pavilion suitable for use as a great hall at events, sleeping a whole
household, and so on. All of the dimensions I describe are calculated based
upon finding 60" wide canvas. The bottom edges of the wall trapezoids, on
all three designs, are exactly 60" across. If your canvas has different
dimensions you may need to redesign. For example, if you have 96" wide
canvas, it is possible to construct an 8-spoke pavilion with 6' spokes.
The small tent uses 8
spokes 4' long. It is 11' tall, 13' diameter on the ground (134 square feet
area), and requires 32 yards of canvas to construct. The cost of this tent in
materials is less than $200, depending upon the price of canvas in your area.
The pavilion has 12
spokes 6' long. It is 13' tall, nearly 20' diameter on the ground (293 square
feet area), and requires 54 yards of canvas to construct. This tent will cost
around $300 in materials by my estimate.
The large pavilion has 16
spokes 10' long. It is 17' tall, more than 25' diameter on the ground (516
square feet area), and requires 88 yards of canvas to construct. This large
pavilion will cost less than $500 in materials, depending upon the price of
canvas.
Construction
Notes
HUB:
The
easiest way to make the hub is to laminate four pieces of 3/4" plywood to
make a slab 3" thick. Use good wood glue, and be sure to use high-quality
plywood. The more laminations (layers) in the plywood the better. Once the glue
has dried, cut it to shape (8 sided, 12 sided, or 16 sided depending upon the
size of pavilion) and drill one hole in each side using a 1.5" spade bit.
You only need to go about 2" deep on each hole.
After the spoke holes are
drilled, you need to make a hole through the center of the hub large enough to
admit the center pole. The size and shape of this hole depend upon the
dimensions of the center pole.
The dimensions of the hub
are not crucial to the design of the pavilion. The important thing is that the
hub is broad enough for the holes holding the ends of the spokes (8, 12, or 16
spokes in the three designs of pavilion I describe). In my pavilion the hub is
6" radius, and the holes for the twelve spokes are 2" deep. This
means that the spokes should be 4" shorter than 6' (in other words,
5'8") so the distance from the center pole to the end of the spokes is
exactly 6'.
SPOKES:
Go
to your lumberyard and buy one 2x4 for every two spokes needed. Pick dry 2x4s
with no warp or knots. Rip the 2x4 into two 2x2s on a table saw. You can use
them with square cross-section or make them more attractive by beveling the
edges with a hand plane, joiner, router, or a tablesaw blade set at 45 degrees.
Round one end down with a rasp or file so it has no sharp corners to abrade the
tent. File the other end down to a 1.5" diameter cylinder, so it fits in
the holes of the hub. The fit does not need to be precise. The twelve spokes on
my pavilion cost less than $10 total.
CENTER POLE:
The
only important characteristics of the center pole are that it is strong enough,
the right length, and that it fits in the hole in the hub.
The center poles in
manuscript illustrations and paintings vary from moderately slim to enormously
huge (see figure 3). If you have a car with a roof rack that can take a long
pole, you might want to have a pole without any joint. If not, the following
joint system is easy and reliable.
My center pole started
out as a 7' piece of 8/4 Oak, about 6" wide. I got my fancy woodworking
store (where I found the wood) to plane it and cut it into two 7' long poles,
2" square, and some waste. The total cost to me was $25 or $30.
I then bought a 16"
section of 2" square metal pipe from a metalworking store. I cut two ends
of the 7' poles at a 60 degree (steep) angle, then fitted one end tightly into
the metal sleeve and the other one slightly more loosely.
Finally, I beveled the
top section, rounded the top and drilled a hole into it, into which I glued a
large metal spike. The result is a center pole that comes apart readily, and is
quite sturdy.
FLOOR:
The
slowest thing about putting this pavilion up is figuring out where the walls
should be properly staked. Having a floor, sized and shaped to match the base
of the pavilion can vastly accelerate this process. This floor can then be laid
out before the pavilion is put up, showing exactly where every stake goes. The
floor should be made of some durable, waterproof, rot-resistant material that
is easily cleaned. Since it is not attached to the rest of the tent it can be
easily replaced or repaired if necessary.
Sewing Notes
There
may be much better ways to do the stuff I describe below, and I'm sure that an
experienced sewing guru would know the better ways to do it. If you want to ask
such a person's advice, great. (And by the way, if you find some better way to
do some of this stuff, please let me know). If you want to just muddle through,
follow my instructions below.
Buy canvas that is
pre-treated to be water-resistant and fire-retardant, if you can get it. Buy
good canvas. This is not the place to cut corners of cost.
I strongly advise that
you not attempt to sew the pavilion without a very heavy-duty sewing machine.
You can rent these in some places, or find a friend who has one if you are
lucky. Some possibilities for renting or borrowing heavy-duty sewing machines
are university theatre departments, theatrical supply stores, or commercial
enterprises making or repairing sails or tents. Dont try to use an everyday
utility sewing machine if you can avoid it. It will be very frustrating and
take a long time, breaking a lot of needles. I'm speaking from experience,
here.
Get some experienced
sewing guru to advise you on any questions you have regarding the sewing. One
important thing to do is to get them to show you how to make a flat-felled
seam: all the seams on the pavilion should be flat-felled seams for strength.
Luckily for anyone who (like me) is a sewing ignoramus, all the seams are
straight and simple.
Cutting out the large
canvas pieces can be a chore, especially marking the long straight lines. The
easiest way to do this is to lay the fabric flat, then take a surveyors
chalk-line and use that to mark the cutting line.
You MUST allow some
appropriate seam allowance on the outside of each pie piece for the roof and of
each trapezoid for the walls. I'm not exactly sure what seam allowance is best:
I added a 1" seam allowance. If you forget to do this, you will waste an
awful lot of fabric.
First, finish all the
rain flaps on the edge of each roof pie piece. The rain flap is the 12"
deep rectangle at the bottom of the pie piece. You can dag it if you wish, hem
it or edge it with some contrasting colored edging.
Now sew all the pie
pieces for the roof together. At the peak you will need to sew a large metal
ring or grommet to the pieces. Alternatively you can take a short section of
1/2" rope (something that will not rot: nylon or hemp, not cotton) and
wrap the thin ends of the pie pieces around the rope before sewing them down.
This will leave a hole at the very peak of the roof for the center pole to go
through.
Finish the top edge of
each wall trapezoid, and the mud flap at the bottom (the rectangle 5' long by
1' deep).
Now work your way around
the tent, sewing one trapezoid on at a time. Note the dotted line on the
pattern that marks the edge of the flap -- that is where the top of the wall
must be sewn to the roof. Make sure that the roof rain flap is on the outside.
Sew the seam attaching one trapezoid to the other along the side seam as well
as the roof seam.
Before you go too far,
decide how many doors you want and where. To make a door, just finish the
adjacent vertical edges of two wall trapezoids rather than sewing them
together. I've found it very convenient to have two doors on opposite sides of
my pavilion. This allows me to open both doors and let a breeze through in hot
weather, and it is often convenient to have a back door.
Once the walls and roof
are sewn, you need to make small reinforced cups of some of the remaining scrap
canvas. These cups are sewn to the edge of the eaves. Their function is
simple--they lock one end of a spoke in the right position on the edge of the
roof. Take a square of canvas
and fold to make a triangle. Sew it down and finish the edges using any simple
method (hem, serge, whatever). Fold again, to make another triangle. Sew one
edge so that you have a triangular cup shape, with the hypotenuse open. This
sounds complicated, although it is very easy to do; I hope this illustration
will help explain it.
]Now sew the cup down (making sure not to
close the cup) so the end of the pole will fit inside the cup. Sew one such cup
at every spoke position (where the horizontal seam at the eaves crosses a
vertical seam down a pie piece and wall trapezoid).
If you want to have ropes
on the tent, sew simple loops to the outside of the eaves to take the ropes.
Stake loops are
constructed by sewing heavy-duty woven cotton straps to the bottom of each
vertical seam on the walls. Make sure you sew them down securely. You will need
one loop for every vertical seam joining two wall trapezoids; doors will
require one loop for each trapezoid edge at the door opening (two loops total).
Stakes
Get
your local blacksmith to make you enough 15" or 18" stakes. For
simple stakes it won't be very expensive, and you might as well have good
stakes for a good pavilion. If you have no local blacksmith, get some 12"
tent nails. Don't use aluminum or plastic stakes -- they won't last, and they aren't
good enough.
Optional
Detachable Walls
For the pavilion shown in
illustration 13, it is clear that the walls can be detached from the roof. I
don't really recommend this for your first pavilion. Sewing the walls to the
roof makes the whole thing more secure, less work to put up and take down, and
so on. The pavilion will not be steady (or even stay up) if one of the walls is
removed because the walls hold up the roof.
However, if you are
making a very large pavilion, it makes more sense to have the walls be
detachable so they can be transported separately. If you want to make a
pavilion with detachable walls, I advise sewing toggles and loops every six
inches across the dotted line marking the edge of the roof pie segments, and
along the finished top edge of the wall trapezoids. You will need to be very
careful and precise. Small errors in placement will cause gapping and other
problems, letting wind and weather in at the roofline.
Painting
and Decoration
Some pavilions were plain
undecorated canvas, but many of the ones shown in manuscript illustrations are
brightly coloured or painted. I haven't experimented in dyeing canvas, so I
can't give any useful advice for reproducing the beautiful full-colour
pavilions that can sometimes be found in illustrations. Consult with some local
fabric guru and experiment.
Painting a pavilion is
quite simple. Most pavilions were painted with simple lines, gothic arches, and
the like. This turns out to be quite easy to do. I bought commercial exterior
acrylic latex house paint from a local do-it-yourself store. You need to thin
the paint with water so that it soaks into the canvas a bit. This makes it much
easier to brush on in a single application -- undiluted house paint tends to
bead up on the surface. You must avoid diluting the paint too much, though, or
it will wick out from the design rather than sticking to where you apply it. I
found that thinning the paint with an equal amount of water gave me a good
consistency. As an added benefit this also cuts the cost of the paint in half,
as you get two gallons from every gallon you buy. Don't paint your pavilion
indoors -- find a big slab of clean concrete or pavement to lay the pavilion
out and paint it. The paint will bleed through the canvas slightly, so dont
paint on a surface where this will matter. Be very careful to avoid spills onto
the canvas, as they are impossible to clean up.
Most single-pole
pavilions seem to have had a decorative finial, often a golden ball. Some
pavilions have whole statues on top, as shown in figures 26 and 29. Flags are
also fairly common, sometimes in conjunction with a gold ball. A decorative
finial of some sort
makesthe pavilion look nicer, but it also has a practical purpose in plugging the
only hole in the pavilion fabric, at the top. I've experimented with a number
of simple ball designs but I haven't found one I'm really satisfied with yet.
Finally, the flap at the
end of each roof segment is often decorated. They may be dagged or painted,
sometimes with mottoes and sayings in contrasting colors to the tent.
Appendix
A: Pavilion Plans
Fabric
and Layout
These patterns are based
upon 60" wide canvas. The trapezoidal wall pieces take up the full width
of the canvas, so can only be laid out in one direction. The most efficient way
to lay out the triangular roof pie pieces is shown below. It is possible to lay
them out so as to use less fabric, but not advisable, as it involves cutting
along the bias of the fabric. Cutting along the bias will allow stretching of
the piece, which will distort the pavilion in the long run.
Appendix
B: Mathematics
All the calculations
involved in planning a pattern for a circular (actually, polygonal) pavilion
are fairly basic trigonometry. Start by drawing a scale-drawing silhouette of
the pavilion you want, with dimensions for the height of the eaves (the level
of the spoked wheel), the height from the eaves to the peak of the roof, and
the width (radius) at the eaves and at the ground. Decide how many spokes you
want. The number of spokes you wish may be fixed for you by the width of the
fabric you have -- it is not possible to make a 12-sided pavilion that is 10'
radius at the base when you only have 48" wide canvas, for example.
S = number of spokes (segments) in the
pavilion
E = radius at the eaves (where the roof
meets the top of the wall, and where the hub sits)
G = radius at ground level
H = height at the eaves
L = height from the eaves to the loft.
So the total height of the pavilion is (H +
L), and the angle Ø between any two spokes is 360/S degrees.
In addition, we will be calculating the
values for the following:
Base = width of the base of the trapezoidal
wall segments
Top = width of the top of the trapezoidal
wall segments (also the width of the base of the roof triangles)
ApparentWall = apparent height of the wall
trapezoid
ApparentRoof = apparent height of the roof
triangle
TrueWall = true height of the wall trapezoid
TrueRoof = true height of the roof triangle.
The important formula
here is that the opposite side of a segment or sector of a circle, C, can be
determined from the radius of the circle R and the angle Ø as follows:
C = 2R sin(Ø/2)
So substitute G in for R
above to calculate Base, and substitute E in for R above to calculate Top.
Base = 2 G sin(Ø/2)
Top = 2 E sin(Ø/2)
The rest is application
of the Pythagorean theorem. The length of a wall segment in your diagram is the
hypotenuse of a triangle with sides of length H and (G - E), so by Pythagorus:
ApparentWall = sqrt(H2 + (G-E)2)
Similarly, the length of
a roof segment from the diagram is the hypotenuse of a triangle with sides of
length L and E, so:
ApparentRoof = sqrt(L2 + E2)
Now as a slight
complication, the apparent lengths of the wallpiece and roofpiece on your
diagram are actually the length of the angled side of the trapezoid and the
long side of the triangle, not the true length we are interested in: the length
perpendicular to the base of the trapezoid and the roof triangle.
This necessitates one more set of
calculations using the Pythagorean theorem.
TrueWall = sqrt(ApparentWall2 -
((Base-Top)/2)2) = sqrt(H2 + (G-E)2 - ((Base-Top)/2)2)
TrueRoof = sqrt(ApparentRoof2 - (Top/2)2) = sqrt(L2
+ E2 - (Top/2)2)
Now all that remains is
to add a 6" wide rain flap at the bottom of the roof piece, and a 12"
wide mud flap at the base of the wall trapezoid.
I strongly recommend
cutting a 1/12 scale model of your pavilion out of paper and taping it together
before you cut any fabric. This is a good way to ensure that your pavilion will
have the proportions you want, and check against any mathematics errors. You
might also want to make a little 1/12 scale human figure to put beside it, so
you get an idea of how big the pavilion will actually be. I didn't do this, and
I was slightly shocked at how large my little day-shade pavilion ended up. It
sure didn't look so big when I made the paper model.