Did you know?

Interesting designs of Porcelain Scaffolding Joints 

Berlin designers Beta Tank want to make scaffolding pretty. Designer Eyal Burstein has started out by casting a series of scaffolding joints in glazed porcelain with gold and platinum nuts and bolts.

Burstein says the delicate pieces are the catalyst for a series of more practical scaffolding accessories, including bird houses and plant pots, so residents can add a little glamour to their building while it's temporarily covered in poles, planks and tarpaulins.

Sistine Chapel facts Did you know?
One of the Sistine Chapel facts is that it took Michelangelo more than four years to paint the ceiling, and he spent much of this time bent backwards painting on top of the scaffolding. Special scaffolding was used so that mass would still be possible, and the scaffolding started higher up the wall than usual because of this.

The Great Fire of London Did you know?
The most famous building destroyed by The Great Fire of London was St Paul's Cathedral. After the fire, its ruins were demolished. Work to rebuild it began in 1675 based on designs by Sir Christopher Wren. The result is the St Paul's Cathedral that now stands in London with its famous dome.

Ironically, Sir Christopher Wren had suggested that the cathedral should be demolished before the fire. He had been commissioned to redesign it following years of neglect and mistreatment. These plans were opposed, and wooden scaffolding was constructed around the cathedral to allow it to be redeveloped without demolition. As the fire reached St Paul's Cathedral, the wooden scaffolding surrounding it would have contributed to the extent of its destruction.

Taj Mahal Did you know?

Rather than waiting years for for men to dismantle and remove the Scaffolding that surrounded the Taj Mahal (that he would have to pay to do the job) Shah Jahan hatched a cunning plan. Why did he need to pay people to take down the scaffolding when the local peasants would do it for free. Realizing that he no longer needed the materials that made up the scaffolding because he was rich enough to just buy more if he needed them. Jahan issued a statement stating that any materials the local population could take from the scaffolding would be theirs to keep. Since bricks were a valuable commodity back then, this offer was like Bill Gates offering 10 dollars to every person who could wing a Big Mac at his front door.

Legend has it that the locals pulled the scaffolding down in a single night after Jahan issued the statement.

The Eden Project Did you know?
The Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall in the United Kingdom. Inside the artificial biomes are plants that are collected from all around the world. The depth of the crater on which the biomes are built is 60m, the size of 35 football pitches. The foundations for the biomes are two metres wide, 1.5m thick and 858m long. Concrete in the foundations is 2480m3 and the reinforcements weigh 284 tonnes!
Putting up the biomes required the largest birdcage scaffolding in the world - 12 levels, 25 metres across, containing 46,000 poles. In all, 230 miles of scaffolding was erected and it is in the Guinness Book of World Records

Adjustable Steel Prop Did you know?
William .A. de Vigier is credited with designing an adjustable steel prop that revolutionized scaffolding designs all over the world. This steel prop forms the basis of trench sheeting and falsework, support slab formwork, and wall formwork.

WW2 Did you know?
The Taj Mahal was covered with a huge scaffolding during WW2 to make it look like a stockpile of bamboo and misguided any Japanese bombers. It was again disguised in 1971 during 1971 during Indo-Pak War.

Bamboo Scaffolding Did you know? 
Scaffolding today is mainly made of metal pipes. But in some parts of Asia, scaffolding is made of bamboo and is even used when building very tall skyscrapers.