Research
Handcrafted Wooden Buildings
When I began to design the finish of the cabin in the spring of 2004, I researched vernacular architecture. The cabins and wooden buildings of eastern Europe, Russia, and Scandinavia offered many examples of exuberant sculptural expression. This page shows some of the images I cobbled together before making my photoshop elevations of our cabin.
Aside from the idea of bright-red trim visible on one cabin, I did not copy any any of the forms directly. Rather I took inspiration from their inventions, and proceeded to invent my own forms.
What about my local vernacular? Colorado mining country contributed a tradition of hasty improvisation. The prospectors built the cabin AFTER they found "color." So they often built in haste, before the snows of winter buried everything. And there was little time for decorative luxury. I did adopt the 12" spruce plank, found in the mines' industrial buildings. And I did adopt the spirit of improvisation.
The samples of European vernacular are the product of slower moving agricultural life. The architectural tradition spanned longer periods of time. The opportunities to add decorative and sculptural elements were greater and were supported by the visual traditions.
Symbols on Wood
Cicmany, Slovakia
Ukraine
Folk Architecture and Life Museum
Bottle Caps
Bottle Cap Shed
Bottle Cap Restaurant
Bottle Cap Portraits
Rusyns
Subcarpathian Rus' Museum of Folk Architecture
Vernacular Architecture Around the World
GreatBuildings.com
|
