Exterior Window Trim
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A Locus of Personality
Opportunty for Color & Sculpture
Reviewing my research in vernacular architecture, I could see that taking care to make the window and door trim expressive was a powerful tradition. The little sketch from my notebook shows an early version of the forms I invented for this cabin.
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The Forms
Adding Curved Lines to a Rectilear Form
I needed a place to display the glyphs. This suggested a certain width on the side panels. But I did not want to verticals to be too beefy. So I chose the ziggurat form, common in southwestern vernacular, but usually applied to adobe buildings. I used a 1.5" radius curve in the corners to soften the form and to resonate with the lintel.
I built two curves into the lintel trim, the outer curve having a 9' radius on the large triple windows and a 3.9" radius on the door trim shown here. The inner curve is made by layering a second piece of wood on the lintel trim.
On the bottom of the window trim I added a middle protrusion to carry on the ziggurat form.
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Designing the Trim
I drew all the window trim in a Post-Script drawing program. First I measured all the cabin's actual window and door openings. Then I designed and dimensioned each part of the trim system. I gave unique colors to any repeatings forms.
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Inventory Guide
Once I had made the drawings for the various windows and doors, I could copy them and reduce them in size, so I could see what I needed to make, all on one page.
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Fabrication Guide
I made the trim out of MDO Duraply, an exterior signage material. It is not cheap. I wanted to buy as few 4x8's of it as possible. Using my inventory drawing, I moved all the parts onto a new single page drawing.
Then I assembled the pieces of the puzzle.
The image on the left is a scan of one of my working drawings. You can see lots of notes and scribbles that show how much I changed my mind about what went where. The big red cross-out show completed work.
As work was finished, I actually made new drawings which responded to my notes. I eliminated boards cut. The process made it clear what remained to be done. It was efficient and I did not have to buy additional Duraply.
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Deck Face
The red trim exerts a major expressive power for the cabin. It is a pleasure when returning to the cabin, to see its bright red color from a distance. When we snowshoe in the aspen grove across the street we can see the bright color through the pale-colored trunks of the aspens.
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Northeast Face
I particularly like the pair of little windows on the lake side.
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