Public House collaborated with Unit 38 Architects to design the two main stages for Kala Festival in Albania. This was an opportunity for us to implement a timber truss system design that we have been developing for a number of years. It was also an opportunity for us to have some fun with some unique ratchet strap connections.

The trusses span around ten metres, yet are lightweight and cheap, constructed from basic timber sections. What's more, the connections consist of bolts and thin plywood plates, so no costly steel plate fabrication. The trusses are so light they could be lifted into place with a simple hydraulic lifting cart, as there were no cranes on site at the festival.

To simplify installation further, Public House proposed innovative ratchet strap connections between the trusses and the vertical support structure. The bright orange straps celebrate the temporary nature of festival installations, and allow all the elements to be taken down, stored and reused year on year.

We've also incorporated these trusses into a number of other designs currently in construction, where the ~1m depth can be expressed in the roof or hidden in a partition or façade wall. We've explained our ideas in some more detail in a small research article here.