A Rebar Pavilion

The First Meeting

Host Paul Ghiringhelli introduces David and Angie to landscape designer Dan Berger, who suggests adding a unique dining pavilion to the patio. The pavilion panels will be made of curved rebar arches anchored in pots of plants. The pavilion will take only 1-1/2 days to build at a cost of about $800 in materials.

At a fabrication plant the rebar is bent into arches, which costs $600. Dan has designed a decorative top for the arches, but simpler arches would cost only about $300. The fabricators use a computer-guided machine to bend the rebar. In all, there are 16 rebar panels--eight with the decorative arch on top and eight with a smaller curve to go inside the outer panels.

Day One

Day Two

The pots are inserted onto the rebar pins in the pots (figure F). The tops of the posts have two holes because each will hold one end of two rebar arches.

The crew arranges the posts on the patio and slides the rebar arches into the posts, ensuring that the tops of the arches are about 7-1/2 feet from the ground.

They use rebar crossties to attach the outer and inner arches of the structure (figure G). They join the crossties to the arches with inexpensive pipe clamps (figure H), using a special tool to tighten them.

Angie adds curtain panels, with ties at the top, to the arches and will sew some weights to the bottoms so that they won't blow around in the wind.

With the pavilion nearly complete, it's time to plant. Trailing lantana is planted in the pots (figure I), with upright annuals to soften the lines of the posts. Flax and nandina add drama to the nearby flower beds.