How to Anchor Heavy Structures to the Ground without a Foundation

Students and faculty in the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California designed and fabricated a unique small pavilion for Joshua Tree National Park, secured with American Earth Anchors PE36 anchors. The pavilion at Joshua Tree National Park is a prototype for a new type of restroom building. This first prototype will not be a restroom, but instead is a shade pavilion. Because the pavilion will be installed in a site that has native cultures artifacts from inhabitants in the area thousands of years ago, the Park Service has requested a minimal strategy for the foundation. Instead of digging a deep trench and possibly wrecking artifacts, they used twelve PE36 anchors. The pavilion is made from a new kind of concrete called Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC). The concrete is as thin as 2” in many places. The design for the project uses an ingenious concrete casting mold that casted five different panels in one mold. The Penetrators were used at the base panel. While engineers required eight anchors, they devised a foundation with twelve anchor locations so if they hit a rock with one or more anchors, they would be OK as long as any eight were installed. This project was fabricated and installed at Joshua Tree National Park using entirely volunteer participants, donated funding, and gifts of supplies and materials. The project is a research effort for the Park, the University, and the precast industry. Hundreds of people are now involved, and the pavilion has become a featured project at conference presentations, featuring American Earth Anchors in a supporting (literally) role.