TriPyramid was founded on a belief that the best designs are created by a collaborative team of experts from diverse fields. Our team of engineers, architects, and craftsmen utilize advanced tools to ensure customers receive the best service through every step of the job. Our solutions combine ideas from each contributor, guaranteeing success in the full project.

Design Collaboration

TriPyramid was founded on a belief that the best designs are created by a collaborative team of experts from diverse fields. Our team of engineers, architectural designers and craftsmen utilize the most advanced tools to ensure that customers receive the best service through every step of the job. We endeavor to find solutions which combine ideas from each contributor, guaranteeing successful integration in the full project.

Below, you can study the evolution of a standoff fitting, perfected through design collaboration for use in a retail space in Hamburg, Germany. Almost every component we manufacture follows this progression, as do the systems into which the components fit.

Step 1) Define the Problem

Figure 1. Design drawings from architect.

A customer would like to hang glass panels to create balustrade infill using an embedded, cylindrical part, connected from one side of the panel without through-bolting. Design challenge defined: How do you push a 3,000-pound panel of glass onto structural supports and fix it in place when the hardware is behind the glass and inaccessible?

Step 2) In-House Brainstorming

Figure 2. First prototypes, 3-D SolidWorks model.

TriPyramid designers and engineers studied vacuum cleaners, garden hose quick-connect fittings, plumbing hardware, and pneumatic tool connections for inspiration and models of successful mechanisms.

TriPyramid designers and engineers studied vacuum cleaners, garden hose quick-connect fittings, plumbing hardware, and pneumatic tool connections for inspiration and models of successful mechanisms. In this phase, we establish feasible concepts for discussion with additional collaborators, and engineer for general loading conditions established through our experience with similar fittings.

Step 3) Optimize for Specifics

Figure 3. Shop drawings, test assembly in the lab.

Once we have potentially viable designs, we work with the glass and structural engineers to establish the exact loading conditions the fitting must withstand. We optimize part geometry using FEA analysis, modify material selections and evaluate potential pricing. We manufacture mockups for destructive in-house testing. As results are compiled, we report back to the engineering collaborators and revise. We submit sketches to the architects and revise. And we revise, and revise, and revise.

Step 4) Optimize for Practical Applications

Figure 4. Test fittings during assembly in Germany, additional prototypes.

After the designs seem feasible to all collaborators, mockup components for destructive testing are manufactured and laminated into glass samples.

This allows for verification of other vendors’ manufacturing procedures, as well as our own. We revise assemblies again, as necessary, and eliminate remaining flaws.

Step 5) Refine Manufacturing Techniques (Troubleshooting)

Figure 5. Production inserts ready to ship.

The glass insert is critically visible in the final installation.

The customer requested a perfect circumferential finish, but using abrasives after machining created a dull, non-reflective appearance. The facing operation on the lathe was the only repeatable technique to create the bright finish the client was after. We worked with our team of manufacturing experts to develop a procedure for consistent results.

Step 6) Final Manufacturing and Quality Control

After final approval, TriPyramid manufactured, measured, and assembled all the balustrade standoff fittings for the job. The result is the clean, safe, and elegant balustrade (and staircase) at left.