Globe Canvas tackles a geometric challenge

Published On: January 1, 1970

When Kevin Kelly of Globe Canvas Products Co. bid a subcontracted project to design and fabricate a complex A-frame canopy recover, he didn’t know that four other companies had already declined to bid it because it was too complicated. The canopy covered approximately 120 feet of steps varying from 8 feet to 15 feet wide, and required nine elevation changes and four transition locations at the joints between narrower and wider segments.

Globe sold the project as a “fit-alter-install” due to the numerous changes in elevation, and the expectation that alterations would be necessary after installation. Globe staff prepared blank templates, and worked onsite with the client to “fill in the blanks” so that the templates matched the existing covers—without having to remove them from the frames—then fabricated four canopies to cover ten existing segments. The client installed them, and to the surprise of everyone involved, no alterations were necessary. The installation was accepted on the first fitting.

Sigrid Tornquist is a freelance author and editor based in St. Paul, Minn. She is also the associate editor of InTents magazine, a publication of the Advanced Textiles Association.