Tim, to further clarify the issue of joinery (i didn't have time earlier to go into intimate detail)...
I have read it explained this way when referring to the structure of a timber frame: there is an ideal layout that would exist according to engineering if the various pieces were all on continuous whole linked together, but in the real world you must deal with joints and their specific characteristics as well as the nature of wood to be weaker around a joint. This causes 2 things to happen: 1 your 'ideal' frame layout is modified to fit the style of joinery you will use, and 2 the exact positioning of certain framing elements will be slightly modified to account for the inherent weaknesses in joined wood.
The lines on my drawing reflect the theoretically ideal locations of the timbers according to the system of joinery and frame layout I will be using, but certain of the timbers will not fall exactly along these lines due to such realities as timber dimensions and joint weakness.
Those timbers that are chosen as primary framing elements will be aligned directly to the lines, either with the lines marking a center of an edge. In most cases the lines will mark an edge, i.e the wall lines mark the smooth inside face of the walls and the joist lines mark the smooth upper face of the floors; this ensures that those parts of the building that most need it will have a straight even surface.
The procedure here would be to pick a reference face on the primary timbers, this face may in some cases be the nicest looking faces (where they are going to be exposed) or may be the straightest faces (where they need to make the most even possible surface), and these faces are aligned with the plan lines. The procedure for choosing which is the reference face is complicated and varies with application.
In other cases, I suspect on this building this would be in the roof support structure, the timbers will be centered on the lines rather than edge-oriented. This could be done with a reference face as before, or by using end references, aligning the ends of the timbers with the lines.
The secondary and tertiary members would use an approximate method of lineup. In the case of the long slanted wall braces the geometry is meaningless, and it is just to remind me in which cavities the braces belong. Instead the braces are aligned with the edges of the posts, as is how such braces are done. Other secondary members would be aligned a set distance off of the plan lines, likely using the reference face method.
Primary members are those members using only the plan lines to establish their locations.
Secondary members use a combination of plan lines and primary members
Tertiary members use any combination that includes secondary members.
On this plan, the primary members include: Posts, joists, ground sill, wall sill, roof sill, main roof support posts, purlins, rafters, and probably some more -the layout is set up to have as many primary members as is reasonable.
The secondary members include: wall plates, collar beams, roof struts, the braces in the gable walls, and maybe one or two others that I'm not seeing off hand here.
The only tertiary members I am aware of at this point are the braces on the side walls, which are joined to the top plates. anything that is not really a part of the frame, like door and window trim and the balconies, I am not really taking into consideration here.
This is kind of my own approach to scribe layout that I have come up with specifically for adapting this framing and joinery style to a geometric layout, I am sure that once I put it into practice I will make a few changes. As I said earlier, this project in many ways is a great experiment. We'll just have to see once...
DLB
