Caravanserai Gate and Dining Table

I've been working with the Canning Town Caravanserai team recently, towards this weekend's opening events. We made this six-and-a-half metre high entrance gate/billboard out of 6 cross laminated ply boards (cut according to a 1:1 template we made out of paper) covered in roofing battens -39p for 3metres- that we painted with good-old emulsion.

Red, turquoise, pink, and white on the sides, and the same deep blue as the hoardings to either side on the front. A veritable paragon of DIY polychromy. Holes were left out of the ply boards to reduce wind loads. 

None of it would have been possible without expert help from the guys at the amazing Anchor House, who put a huge amount of energy into helping us with this, both at their fully kitted-out workshop and on site, as well as with making lounge chairs from palettes for people to chill on.

below, the gate just before being finished, and a couple of hours before the opening...

 

During the day there was a market, and at night, braving the cold were around a hundred souls who joined us for a bbq and Pot-Luck meal with Latitudinal Cuisine, the centre of which was the 18metre-long covered dining table that we made out of donated scaffolding polls, boards and colourful GRP.

For the market it served as stalls, but at night, after laying some tablecloths down, adding a few fairy lights, candles, and lots of bottles of wine, it proved a more than suitable focal point for our own not too insignificant outdoor banquet.