Spiral trunk...
Interesting tree found on the Land’s End trail in San Francisco. Whipped by the wind and living in the fog it reminds me of another tree that lives in a very different environment back east. Turning north we had a great view to the bridge.
View to the bridge...
Found via a link from the Timber Framer’s Guild Design Forum.
Its the only one we've got...
North Light on the Burlington Waterfront.
A recent snap from one of my early morning rides. Spring is slowly showing itself… life on two wheels returns to form.
Rifling through my various portfolios I found slides of work completed by some of my students way back in 1999. I had the pleasure (and challenge) of getting a last minute assignment to teach foundation level design at the Cleveland Institute of Art. I was simultaneously trying to breathe new life into the foundation level wood shop – so I had my hands full as I took time off from graduate school. A mid semester project was to create a device to lower an egg two stories safely to the ground. Typically a high school physics problem – we explored this as conceptual art meets design problem. I placed a heavy focus on ‘craft’ and hands on skill building in my course – be it a student taking on complicated wood and metal working or learning techniques for staging and coordinating their own documentary photography. Concept played a key role in all of the projects – and craft followed as students learned to make their vision a physical reality. Below are a few of my favorites.
A project on the boards for a small office located in Brecksville, Ohio. The building is sited in a flood plain and overlooks a wonderful creek – so we will be creative with the landscaping and what will appear to be a massive native stone foundation. I’m working out a timbered deck for the creek side of the building, and we are discussing solar on the south roof. The building will feature a timber frame core and loft with a series of work rooms under timber trusses. We’re planning a SIP roof and conventionally framed walls with cellulose insultation. Lots of stone and wood on the exterior and a collection of built in furniture and work stations throughout.
I’m working through the bulk of the project in SketchUp in an attempt to integrate as much of the drawing and detailing as I can into the live 3d model of the frame and shell.
Greg’s house in Plainfield, VT – a not so big timber frame with a warm and sunlit main living area and two lofts for storage and a home office.
Detail of the center bent and bracing.
More images and information to come over at Greg’s little company website – Sticks and Stones.
N 42°38.251′
W077°15.726′
1779′
Live edge walnut and ash meeting table.
This table has the mark of two designers and craftsmen on it, and the third makes his mark on it showing his wares and meeting his clients over it. I designed and began the crafting of this table for good friend Tim to use as a small conference and meeting table at his studio. Like most work I take on for family and friends I was completely over committed – but instead of having Tim wait the better part of a year (as he did on his hand joined sycamore and walnut jeweler’s bench) – I collaborated with Chris Harvan to get the project completed. I designed the rough table form in SketchUp then sourced the live edge walnut. While I was working the walnut and making use of an antique 18″ wide jointer, Chris took my design file and tweaked it a bit to include some joinery he wanted to cut and added a repeat of the walnut into the legs. Upon rough joining the table top I handed off the walnut with basic instructions on how I wanted the reversed wane edges to transition to one another, and Chris took over.
The live edges of the top are reversed from one side to the other.
I keep a journal of my bicycle adventures over at my other online presence. Drop in and check out our car-lite travels, local Burlington, Vermont dirt road rambles, and my quest to ride a Super Randonneur series and cap it off with the Endless Mountains 1240k this fall.
