Twas interhouse season and I wanted to do something cool. Perhaps, even, to bring back Blacker Hovse’s former construction glory.

The party theme was The French Revolution. So what better to make than the Arc De Triomphe?
(yes it was built after the revolution, but it’s in the spirit; and looks sick)

Here’s the story.

The first catch 22: can we even do this? Approval depends on a budget, and the budget depends on the design. I thought the planning would come once we decided to continue, but the situation made it crystal clear: nothing happens until somebody imagines, so others can see what’s possible and worthy.
…so I sat down and made some drawings.

And we decided to do it!

Next up, gathering materials. We computed that the Arc could tip over with 20mph of wind force, so we needed to weigh down the bottom. Luckily, Home Depot sells 1000lb of sand for $50 (we didn’t even have to “legally obtain” it from the beach!) Unluckily, it comes in a 1000lb bag which none of our cars can handle.

So we brought two cars, and also purchased sandbags and shovels to dsitribute the sand on site. Usually they load the sand by cutting the bottom of the big bag and pouring it into your truck—when they saw our dinky SUVs they were like ”???” and we were like “yeah if you could just put it on the floor thanks so much” :p

Frame construction went relatively smoothly—we first created walls and then held them up to cross-brace them into towers.

We told admin that party-goers wouldn’t be climbing on the arc… but you have to build it somehow…

These were some of the most sus 2x4s I’ve ever assemebled—hanging off the Arc with one elbow, holding the screw with that hand, driving it in with the other, 16 feet off the ground… I’d always wondered what pre-OSHA 1960s skyscraper construction felt like!

With the frame done, we were able to start putting on panels. Sylvia and Andrea took charge of some beautiful relief sketches that mirror the real relief statues on the top panels of the Arc de Triomphe:

And of course, you can’t forget the statues on the Arc de Triomphe! We decided to do the Blacker lion, of course, but how? 3D print molds? Sculpt from clay? We decided that wood and foam was the most malleable.

Sometimes I had to take breaks to finish my sets …

And alas— the arc!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this interhovse a reality—especially Sylvia, Andrea, Keith, Maxwell, Ron, Richard, Sully, and Efe for stepping up and taking charge of arc subcomponents. It was so much fun to work together and build something that we didn’t know we could :) Blacker hovse is so back 😎

 › thoughts