Category Archives: Architecture

Tennessee Bridge built with G/flex® Epoxy

By Mark Morrison – Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation

On the surface, the span looks like any of the thousands of small, narrow two-lane bridges across America. This new, high-tech bridge in Morgan County, Tennessee uses G/flex® Epoxy in a fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite material deck embedded with fiber optic sensors. It replaced a damaged, decades-old concrete crossing which, like thousands of low-volume bridges across the nation, was structurally deficient and outdated.

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Big, Beautiful Barn

by Robert Garrison

Cover Photo: Robert Garrison’s big, beautiful barn. The trusses were reinforced with WEST SYSTEM Epoxy.

I designed and, with the help of others, built my big, beautiful barn many years ago. While we didn’t use epoxy in the construction, I’ve used WEST SYSTEM® many times to make repairs and modifications. Much of this was needed because the construction crew didn’t follow the design instructions.

The fourth floor of the building is a 24′ wide by 60′ long clear-span room. The weight of the roof, cupola, and sometimes a lot of snow, are held up by six trusses. I strengthened the trusses by adding the missing gussets, adding additional lumber to some parts, and strengthening weak spots in the grade F lumber I’d used. Continue reading →

G/flex Does It

By Hugh Horton

The project was creating a shower pan for an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) bathroom in the home I’ve been building in Cedar Key. How does one satisfy shower pan requirements of Levy County Florida and meet ADA suggestions, too, when the floor is concrete, twelve feet above ground? Continue reading →

Readers’ Projects, Issue 42

IIT Architecture students designed and built a building facade panel system. This project was meant to simulate a real-world challenge and give hands-on experience working with carbon fiber. Their instructor also led the group of students who created the FIBERwave pavilion in Epoxyworks 40. Continue reading →

Six10 Adhesive for Pultruded Fiberglass Louvers

Creating Decorative Louvers with Pultruded Fiberglass and Six10®

By Emily Soyka

Cover photo: Installing some of the assembled FRP louvered panels on the rooftop residence.

Renew Urban Charleston, LLC in Charleston, South Carolina has been using WEST SYSTEM® Six10 Thickened Epoxy Adhesive to glue hundreds of pultruded fiberglass channels and square tubes together to form decorative louvers. When installed on the building, the louver assemblies create an aesthetic detail that draws attention to the unique rooftop residence on King Street in Charleston. Continue reading →

FIBERwave PAVILION

By Alphonso Peluso and his Spring 2014 IIT Architecture Students Joseph Bertucci, Cecilia Campos, Dijon Dunmore, Xinyun Huang, Jared James, Ryan Kim, Dakotah Lucas, Jeffrey McQuiston, Nick Rienstra, Teresita Pineda, John Seaman & Jeffrey Wigen

The FIBERwave PAVILION was designed and built as part of a student-based design research studio. Carbon fiber was used because when coated with epoxy it can become as hard as steel, and added layers enhance its strength. It offers designers great control over structural properties and is incredibly lightweight. Continue reading →

The Building Issue

by Grace Ombry

For this issue we’ve dug through our Epoxyworks archive to put together a selection of all building articles. There are two reasons for doing this. For the last couple of months, we have been redesigning the PRO-SET® Epoxy product line. This has taken an incredible amount of work by almost everyone at Gougeon Brothers, especially those who write and produce Epoxyworks. In addition, since the beginning of the year, the chemists, lab technicians, and technical staff—the main writers of our articles—have been moving into their brand new quarters. Continue reading →

Pleasant Bay Columns

By Suzanne Leahy

Cover Photo: The finished 24′ front columns built by Pleasant Bay Boat & Spar Company.

In 2006, I was contacted by a wood consultant whose client was looking for a shop to turn solid Ipe architectural columns. He’d found out about our company through the Federal Reserve project. STA Architectural Group was the principal designer of a private residence under construction in South Florida. Their trademark motif was tropical hardwood architectural columns resembling palm trunks. This design called for unusual dimensions for eight columns.
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Summer in the City

The MOMA Beatfuse project

All of the seams on the MOMA Beatfuse pool bottom were sealed using 3″ cloth tape and three coats of epoxy.

by Jerry Briggs

Each year The Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center conducts what is known as the P.S.1 / MOMA Young Architects Program. The competitors vie for the opportunity to build a temporary architectural project in the 17,000 square foot outdoor galleries of P.S.1 in Queens, New York. The structure serves as a venue for the popular outdoor music series, “Warm Up” which runs from June through September each year and boasts attendance in excess of 100,000 visitors per season. Continue reading →

Revisiting a Church Window Restoration

by Captain James R. Watson

Above: The United Methodist Church in Ludington, Michigan where window restoration was completed with WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy.

Those working on projects that use epoxy for restoration and rot repair often ask, “How long will this last? Will the rot return?” At Gougeon Brothers, Inc., we have lots of in-house test approaches that can analyze tension, compression, shear, and fatigue. We can also predict the consequences of ultraviolet, arid, tropical, and cold conditions. Still, there’s nothing like real-world performance over time to tell us how long a repair will last. Continue reading →