Making of 'the StarScraper'

Aerial of our prefab site - can't get any closer to the pacific ocean than this!

Lots of bamboo - mostly dendricalimus and guadua varieties

The main structural columns are made from 7 - 30' poles lashed together.

This is one of the few bamboo structures of it's size ever structurally engineered and approved in the US.

Testing the rigging without heavy machinery.

Loading the stake-bed trucks with all the pieces!

Unloading at the Coachella site

Fabricating the 60' columns on site.

How many men does it take to install an earth anchor?

We had to get these 9 feet deep because the soil here is mostly sand.

Loud. Grueling. Sweaty.

I'll take photographs.

Working late into the night on my birthday.

The best 'cake' I could have ever hoped to see lit up on this day.

With light towers and a Gradall, we can do anything.

The next morning, tweaking the angles

Installing the star-shaped cross bracing

Raising the 'spire', which is equipped with a propane line

and going to shoot fire at night. WOW!

It seems to float above the star

With spandex shade cloth attached!

Upward view

Thanks to the hard-working crew!