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| Innovative yurt designed for extreme locations  The Colorado Yurt Company has pioneered the strongest yurt ever, the Winter Stout Alpine Yurt. The design innovation is timely for the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association. 10th Mountain operates a hut to hut ski system high in the Rocky Mountains. One of their cabins recently burned down just as their season was about to start. They replaced the cabin with a Winter Stout Alpine Yurt because of the yurt's fast setup and incredible strength. At 11,300 feet on an exposed ridge, they had to feel confident in something that could stand the test of intensely extreme weather conditions.Dan Kigar, owner and primary designer at the Colorado Yurt Company says, "The Winter Stout is absolutely perfect for ski resorts, the windy Midwest and earthquake threatened areas of California. Better yet, the yurt is also designed to meet the structural snow and wind requirements of the International Building Code." Until now, yurt manufacturers have restricted their engineering data with footnotes indicating that only balanced snow loads have been considered. But rugged alpine conditions - a winter's worth of deep powder and big winds mixed with constant freeze/thaw cycles - almost always result in unbalanced snow loads. In real-life, unbalanced snow load conditions create torsion and tension, which significantly impact the structural capability of a yurt. Kigar explains, "Wind and drifts typically pile all the snow on a north quadrant of the roof while the sun melts the south side. The Winter Stout Alpine Yurt is engineered with three-dimensional analysis which shows the yurt can support bigger snow loads than most traditional, stick-built homes and cabins." In fact, a single quadrant of the Winter Stout Alpine Yurt roof can handle four times the ground snow load of 158 pounds per square foot this yurt is rated to withstand in a fully exposed location. The Colorado Yurt Company also recently introduced a new Wooden Operable Window design for their yurts. There are two big benefits to the new windows: • The window can be cranked open from inside the yurt. A standard yurt window has a zippered flap in the wall fabric of the yurt which must be opened by going outside the yurt. Many yurts are built on a simple platform that is only a footprint for the yurt without additional outside deck space. If the yurt is elevated, unzipping and rolling up the window flap must be done on a stepstool. • The view is unobstructed by the crossing lattice wall pieces. The window is set in a sturdy wooden frame so it is possible to cut out the section of the lattice wall that typically covers the window in a yurt. The window frame integrates into the lattice wall without affecting the functionality and strength of the yurt. The window also qualifies as a point of egress for building codes. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Construction News :: home page |