13.04.2021 Building:dome termination aesthetics.

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Tuesday 13th 38F, bright but cloudy. I am really feeing yesterday's exertions. Hopefully, my morning walk will relieve the aches and pains.

The shutters remained in place overnight. I still have to sort out the trailer full of cladding ply. The car is trapped and the trailer on a slope and too heavy to move by hand. There was puddle in the trailer tarpaulin. So it must have rained overnight. 

I carried the cladding plywood around the dome and stacked it against the building. Ready for use. It hailed all the time I was moving them. The trailer is safely tidied out of the way. As are the planks used to slide the shutter segment along the ground. It all looks much neater and I could even turn the car around. 

The image shows the off-cuts from the dome [slit] and shutters. The two, narrow sections nearest the camera have now been moved away as they have no immediate purpose. The pointed section [left] will close off one of the spherical triangles beside the arched doorway. As will the large, rectangular piece, on the other side of the doorway. 

Sadly there is not enough material in the rectangular, slit off-cut to close off both triangles. Which will mean a mismatch in the frequency of the facets. Still, being exactly the same colour should obscure such cosmetic differences. Distance is also a great disguise. The dome base ring will always be over 4m above the ground.

The afternoon was [again] punctuated by frequent hail showers. I continued to tidy up as there was little else I could do. 

The upper sections of plywood cladding will be 1.5m high to the top of the frames. Leaving 0.94m spare out of each 2.44m x 1.22 sheet. This "spare" material might be useful for layering under the dome if there is too much dome overlap above the building. 

I am rather tempted to add another ring of 2x4s or even 2x6s to the tops of the frames. The top cross-braces of the frames are slightly below the original base ring which supports the rollers. 2x6s, projecting outwards would provide more substance to which to fix the dome rollers. 

It would also help reduce the difference in diameter of the dome and building. 4.30m : 4.05m. 25cm is 10" in old money. So I have to make up 5" in radius minus vital clearance. This would cause a useful bulge above the [observatory level] cladding.

The top of the building might otherwise look rather "weak." If it simply vanishes into the underskirts of the dome at the same diameter. The building itself will be a rather tall, rather featureless, multi-sided cylinder. [14 sides] Having no veranda means there is nothing to stop the eye from soaring upwards. Apart from the narrow flashing at midway between the two tiers of boards.

Initially the rollers will be exposed in a gap between the dome and the building. This area can easily be covered by a further ring of cladding. A few applied battens, to push out this top ring is easy to manage if it proves necessary. 

It will also provide more visual substance just below the dome. Achieving a more satisfying conclusion to the building. Much as does a capital on a classical column. Without which a column looks almost insignificant. More like a PVC downpipe than a structural element. The projecting battens and slightly overlapping cladding, will act as a natural drip. To avoid the risk of any leakage into the building.

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