Workshops
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Denmark's Habitat Foundation
Photos and report by Ed Levin
Stormfulde Højder (Wuthering Heights) is a project of the Copenhagen-based
Home Foundation for Single Mothers and Fathers. The Stormfulde Højder
property was bequeathed to the Foundation in 1993 as a day care facility
for children of broken homes. The kids spend a day or two a week out in
the country using the pond, forest and nature playground. The barn that
we are rebuilding provides shelter for the children (many of whom do not
have adequate winter clothing) and their parents.
The workshop is the brainchild of Guild member Mikkel Johansen and of Bjørn
Engtorp, an instructor at the Danish Forestry school who manages the
facility and lives on site with his wife, Bettina. With the aid of
instructors Steve Amstutz, Dave Dauerty, Mikkel Johansen (Email: mj-timber@mail.tele.dk) and Ed Levin, a total of nineteen students built and raised five of the twelve bents in the
main wing of the barn over ten days. The crew camped out on the property
and were sustained by abundant and delicious Danish cuisine prepared by
Bettina and friend Christina in an outdoor log frame camp kitchen.
Many of the students were professional woodsmen and carpenters, who
learned fast, worked efficiently, and built to a very high standard. The
frame will be completed over the next month by Mikkel, Bjørn, Steve, Dave and John Palmer, then enclosed with a straw/clay/wood chip wall system and tile roof. The organizers hope that the workshop and the building will
help to spark the revival of timber framing in Denmark, a country with an ancient and rich carpentry tradition.
An unusual feature of the barn is
the roof construction, with purlins and common rafters carried on
vertically laminated arches after the fashion of turn-of-the-century Danish railroad stations. A drawing of one of the bents is above (by Ed Levin).
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