WE apply our experience in designing large section Carpentry jointed Frame structures and generate the Frame design
We bring our knowledge of sustainable sourcing and processing of Hardwoods to every project Which as included selection tree by tree . log by log.
We check available lengths of timber and curves and implications on cost with the Carpenters before completing the design.
WE finalise and produce a Frame Design. We complete the manufacturing drawings and work closely with the Carpenters to refine detailing throughout the process of making
WE finalise and produce a Frame Design. We complete the manufacturing drawings and work closely with the Carpenters to refine detailing throughout the process of making
Through study of local Heritage , and localised ancient Carpentry we generated an obstruction free space capable of large gatherings.
Clear 12m spans and a 150 sqm structure free transept were achieved.
Griffon Forest - York
Big Trees -Big Parkland + Big Municipal demands for leisure = Big Requirement for a Barn Working hand in hand with Timber Framers - Gordon Macdonald and Steve Lawrence + under the gaze of the Timber Research and Development Association TRADA, we designed and generated this Green Oak Frame structure through concept, manufacturing drawings and material ordering. Having devised the spacial layout for the interior we designed a frame that made that possible and which allowed others to wrap an external skin around. We brought an apprenticeship in a framing yard along with a love of wood and carpentry., to the project. Detailed knowledge of green woodwork made it affordable in recently converted English Oak - Quercus Rober. We provide all the Drawings to enable manufacture of the frame and understanding of that by the Clients for the building. We offered limited supervision of the Frame based on our trust in the Carpenters. W had to get this absolutely right as it acted as the skeleton for a building designed by TRADA ' s In house architects.,
Effectively we were the Framing Companies specialist In House Frame Designers that enabled the manufacture of a Frame that needed to exceed the norms in term of spacial Performance.
Gordon and Steve being so Professional that we hardly needed to show up in Yorkshire at all.
The major achievement in the project was achieving the Clients wish for a Cathedral like transept that was uninterrupted by Collumns. We achieved this by building on ideas we had developed with the same carpenters on other smaller Domestic Projects . Specifically that using naturally Curved pairs of braces cut from one log could offer us very strong frames.
Griffon Forest Barn raising was an essay in huge Arch Braced Collars allowing clear 12 m uninterrupted spans. Further more 2 Barns gently collide at a transept creating a central Hall of 12m x 12m of free space .without steel reinforcement or plates .
We were not the Architects for the Building, we were given the external Form to work within. However it's now hailed as one of the finest spaces in greater York.
We were the Frame Designers but knew fine well that's where the quality and expression would lie so we made sure that the Green Oak Carpentry jointed structure linked the building to the Woodland setting and the specific history of Oak Framing in Yorkshire. Gordon Macdonald was generous in leading us to the History of woodworking specific to Yorkshire and the frame design adds something temporal to the presence of curvacious Framing that the archaeological record illustrates . Arch braced Collars were once common in this place and once we had checked that , we began our exploration. You could say the Barn Frame was built twice , once in our studio as drawings. and once on site . Every last junction was drawn.
The further North you come in the Uk the more curvy the Carpentry because of the presence of Hills . Trees that grow from hillsides tend to have curvature as they correct themselves toward the light.
Wonderful Framers + Ingenius Carpentry + Strong Oak Pegs
The Barn was raised.
Many people gather dine dance and perform together in a great Hall and in the absence of structural collumns.