Something different in a factory............

Rare day off today. Plan another couple next week. After a trip to the cafe I went to visit  a local timber frame factory in relation to a project I’m doing with my  brother.  I was amazed!  This approach, making most of the structure in a quality assured factory  environment, is the way to go and I think I will return with some students later in the year.  The whole concept of building a house in a damp wet field has always seemed ridiculous and inefficient.  There are inevitable delays due to weather; there is the loss of control of quality and of effort and the general slowness of traditional approaches.

The system used sees the walls and floors built as panels and cassettes respectively and craned into place. The floors have a type of beam construction that means services can be simply thread through and the walls are ready battened to allow services and the plasterboard.  Externally a skin of blocks, bricks, a render or other finishes can be applied (including dry approaches).  Looking forward to working with them further – maybe one day getting something designed instead of off the shelf.  I may return to this subject (frames) in future blogs.

The evening was capped off with a trip to St Ives, inspired by BBC4’s excellent documentary on the Art of Cornwall – here if you missed it.  Inspiring for both its eclectic architecture and its art and provided an interesting end to a design led day. Oh and a few goes on video games – I can’t help myself at times!