Raising the roof and walls ... the first third of the process

One by one, we lifted the preassembled roof and wall frames into place and tipped them up to stand vertically. In other words, the building was built up through a process of horizontal stacking. Here Jack, Vincent, and John check the level of the first frame, while Dave starts to secure it at its base.


The first frame in place, framing the landscape.


The cantilevered benches are sandwiched and secured between the wall studs, so they are knit into the structure as it is erected. Below, Dave positions a bench member.


A view through two rough wall studs at the smooth bench surfaces as they begin to take shape.


At the beginning, work progressed slowly. We had four frames erected by the end of one day ...


... and six at the end of the next. Enough for Vincent to try out a bench for lounging.


One fine Saturday in early August: Darryl, Dave and John tip another frame into place...


... and continue to build up the benches.



At nine frames ...


... the interplay of the various structural members begins to become apparent.


John, Dave, Bob, and Jack get ready to pull another frame up into place.


Twelve frames ...


... and one can begin to get a sense of the patterning of light and shadow that will fall inside the space.


Here is a view of the pavilion from the garden, framed by magnificent August sunflowers.

At the north and south (pictured below) ends of the building, four wall studs are laminated together to make a column, reinforcing the structure against high winds. Bob, Jack, Amanda and John lift the final frame into place, while Devon and Dave use ropes to help lift and steady it. Since the cedar is quite light, this wasn't quite as hard as it might look!





Below, a tranquil Saturday morning sitting on the bench and looking over the valley. (Photo Darryl Nunn)

Laying the floor deck

To begin with, we checked the joists for any crown and hand-planed them to level, so that the decking would sit nice and flat. Vince became a pro at this job.


Now to install the decking: John and Brune (a volunteer from France) set a 2x2 along a stringline, working together to predrill and drive the decking screws.


Here, Brune and Vincent take a rest at the edge of the floor deck. The pattern of 2x2's and 2x4's in the floor deck will align with the pattern of the wall studs and the voids between them.


Below, the completed floor deck...


... already a satisfying platform for viewing the landscape.

Preassembling the roof and walls

With the floor structure in place, we gained a nice level working surface on site. We used the surface to set up a jig, where we preassembled the roof and walls of the building in frames or "slices". Here you see Dave and Jack fastening roof members to wall studs.


... and the first "slice" of the building set aside.


Using the jig (which is kind of like a three dimensional template) allowed us to assemble a series of identical roof-and-wall frames. Well, they were almost identical. Below is a snapshot of the most complicated feature of the jig -- where we successively added 1/8" shims to the jig as we placed each successive sloping roof member. While the roofing plane slopes significantly east to west, this small adjustment added a gentle north-south slope to the roof as well, allowing for drainage off the roof to a single point.


And so the pile grew...


While the rough-sawn lumber used for the roof and wall members has a wonderfully soft and rich quality, it did present some extra challenges during construction. Nominally 2"x4" or 2"x6" in size, the thicknesses of the rough-sawn members in fact vary by as much as 3/4". And so John kept track of the assembled thicknesses of each frame, in order to plan the custom blocking that would be necessary to maintain an even 6" wall stud spacing throughout...


... using his revolutionary 3-dimensional notepad.


None of this was quite enough work for Vincent, who did push-ups between frames to stay in peak physical condition. Well, at least while I was taking photos.


Finally, we had a very large stack of frames indeed - about one third of the total required.


Here is a photo inside the stack of frames - you can begin to see the slightly wedge-shaped space created by the staggered roof members.


The end of a satisfying day's work!

Floor Framing

- a chapter which could otherwise be called -

The Pursuit of the Perfect Bubbles.


Here is a view south across the pavilion site, with the foundations ready to go and the cedar for the beams piled beyond. (photo by Barry Finnen)


Carpenter Dave works with volunteers Vincent and John to nail together the 4-ply 2x12 floor beams.


Here are the floor beams set in place ...


... and bolted into the beam seats.


John and Vincent prepare the ledger boards, which attach to the beams to support the floor joists.


Here are the ledgers, ready to be installed.


Carpenter Dave installs some floor joists (on one of the very hot days in July) ...


... and adds the rim joist to finish off the floor structure.


Here is a view over the completed floor structure, at dusk.


The sill plates (which sit at the base of each wall) are the first pieces of rough-sawn wood to be added to the structure.


Now the floor is ready for the decking! It was exciting to see the building footprint take shape ...

... and to find those perfect bubbles.