Wuthering Heights or Stormfulde Højder is a project of the Copenhagen-based Home Foundation for Single Mothers and Fathers. In the summer of 1999, Guild members took part in a workshop to rebuild a barn that provides shelter for children of broken homes and their parents. Mikkel Johansen, who organized the workshop with Bjørn Engtorp, sent these photos and report.

Mikkel-Angelo. Designer and archbuilder.

Nordvæg or north wall. The exterior walls are made out of wood chips mixed with clay, water and a bit of straw. The mix gets a concrete-like consistency that can be poured into forms. A bit of the form work is still left on the east gable. The yellow trailer on the right can mix water and clay right away without soaking it first. It is also a compressor so you can spray clay plaster on the walls.

2 Sydvæg or south wall. The clay walls only enclose the first floor. The last 4 feet of the walls are for the hayloft. That will be covered with board-and-batten, cut out of the slabs from the same trees as the timbers were cut from. The clay-chip walls will be whitewashed, the board-and-batten will be painted red, and the roof will have red tiles. All very typical for Denmark.

3. Høloft or hayloft, upstairs in the mainwing. The arches are "laminated" with three layers of 2½" planks, pegged together with 60 pegs per arch. John Palmer got to the point where he and a helper could assemble allmost three a day after the segments were cut.

4. Stue or main room. Posts and braces are white oak, the girts and joists are Douglas fir. "My" American framers generally thought that the quality of the wood was pretty good, but they stressed the necessity of "nursing" your sawmill operator.