I have been working out the design of the shop, and have made a few modifications. The footprint will be a little bit wider, at about 14x24 feet instead of 12x24 as earlier, and the ceilings will be a little higher as well, about 8 1/2 feet or so.
I am working out the enclosure system, inspired by the traditions that the building is based on. as earlier, there are 2 candidates for enclosure.
The first is the way that timbered buildings in Switzerland would have been constructed 3 or 400 years ago, exposed timbers in and out with the cavities filled in with river stone mortared with lime. The surfaces inside and out would then be given a smooth coat of lime plaster.
The other technique of enclosure is to make an all wood structure. Rather than simply nail siding board onto the outside, a technique is going to be used that was used traditionally in much of Switzerland, Bavaria, and the Black Forest.
This technique is to run siding boards from one post to another, and at each post have a vertical trim board attached that hides the nails for the siding, protects the frame and board ends from water, and appears to be an exposed timber itself. The biggest advantage of this is that all of your siding is under 3 feet long, making it much easier to make if you are riving it by hand.
here is a diagram I drew up of the system:
http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff345/HiddenOrder/Riegelhaus%20Project/scan0001.jpgThe trim boards stick out past the siding, and are given a decorative profile.
In addition, the roof as designed was originally going to be clay tile. This idea has been abandoned and instead the roof will be oak shakes. This in combination will the enclosure methods used will serve to set the building's style back from that of the 1800's to something more along the lines of what might have been built in the 1600's or even the late middle ages.
DLB
