Did you know that a museum can be in a tent? This unusual museum was a multisensory experience designed to evoke feelings by sight, sound, scent, and feeling. Its exterior changed color based on sentiments shared on social media. Inside, each room is designed to make you feel energetic, joyful, optimistic, exhilarated, or calm by turns. It was located in Lower Manhattan along the Hudson River, across the street from the World Trade Center.
To create this unique space, Event Resources and https://www.taittowers.com/ contacted Tents For Rent to discuss partnering for this one-of-a-kind event. The idea was to create a cube-like structure instead of a traditional tent. The Palas, a new tent design from the German company, Losberger, fit the bill. Selecting a structure was only the first of many challenges:
The Palas needed to be customized, reengineered, manufactured, and shipped from Germany--all in less than six weeks.
Mere weeks before installation was to begin, no location in Manhattan had been found to host the event.
After a space was found, it was too small to install the tent, while still allowing space for a fire lane. To do this, we worked with Tait to build custom spacers to allow the tent to move up the steps, and out of the fire lane.
On the day before installation began, the engineers realized that larger plates were needed to distribute the weight of the concrete ballast and avoid damage to the subway. Tait crews worked around the clock to manufacture new plates, and saved the day. The Tents For Rent crew shifted their already tight schedule to accommodate this change.
After the Tents For Rent crew began measuring the space to install the tent, they discovered that the site drawing was slightly inaccurate. The position of the tent needed to be shifted again to accommodate the fire lane.
The work area was confined to a fenced-in area that was only slightly larger than the footprint of the tent.
For most of the installation, equipment had to be delivered by straight truck since semi trucks could not access the site.
Two guards escorted each delivery truck, to protect pedestrians.
Due to the height of the eaves, each arch had to be constructed and raised before the next arch could be assembled.
In spite of all these challenges, the tent was completed on time for the installation of a raised floor, lighting, scenery and heating. Special thanks to Losberger, Tait Towers, Event Resources, and the Tents For Rent team for working together to make this event a success.
Project Specs:
Tent size: 49' x 114' x 22' tall
Concrete ballast: 140 blocks and a total of over 250,000 pounds
Installation time: 5 days
Location: Brookfield Place in Lower Manhattan across from the World Trade Center
Tent and ballast delivery trucks: 15