Public House worked with Floating Points and Cosmic Slop on the structural design of a large custom-built soundsystem. The system is over 4m high and is used outdoors at festivals. It also requires lifting and transporting. Public House carried out the structural checks for the overall system and developed two bespoke details: the first was a fixing system to ensure the stack can be used outdoors in adverse wind conditions; the second was a lifting system so it could be easily manoeuvred both by crane and forklift. The system is hand-crafted and high-fidelity; the most important part of the design was therefore that the details we developed were beautiful and minimal, without detracting from the design of the speakers.

Lifting System
The ca. 200kg cabinets need to be lifted, stacked and manoeuvred by forklifts or cranes, depending on the event. Unlike your regular festival soundsystem, any overtly functional components should be hidden. It should feel like an enormous beautiful home-listening soundsystem. Public House developed a series of options including slimline demountable forklift pallets and lifting straps. The final design was for 4 lifting points on the top of each cabinet, with a connected threaded bar running through the cabinet, transferring the loads from a welded plate beneath the bottom face of the cabinet. This meant the entire lifting mechanism was hidden from sight. By transferring the lifting loads to the bottom steel plates through the threaded bars and mechanical/welded fixings, the cabinets are supported from underneath in simple bearing and there is no risk of damaging the glued plywood joints or the interiors.

Fixing system
With the stacks being over 4m tall and used in open areas with large crowds, a system was required to fix the stack to prevent potential overturning in the event of high winds. Again, unlike conventional outdoor systems, any mechanical fixings needed to be hidden and/or fit the aesthetic of the system.
The solution was a bespoke brass plate latch system to the sides of each cabinet. One side is fixed permanently to the cabinet, safely transferring loads between the plywood and the connection. The other part are brass plates which are screwed into place once the cabinets are stacked.
The second part of the solution was a detachable bracket connection to the stage or base of the speakers. The design allowed flexibility depending on the stage or decking provided by the festival.