Here’s the story of the woods. Trees fall down in storms. Men and machines pick them up, the machines get smaller as the process goes on. Woods turn into timber. Trees are planted in the spaces left behind and the wood lives on. The timber becomes stuff, the stuff does other things.

Like turn into huts.

Here’s a quick photo of the Hutte as it now stands – the cladding now on the oustide, the door is fitted and I’m starting work on some interior layouts while I’m waiting for the windows and roofing materials to turn up. I’m really happy with the size and feel of the interior – it feels quite nicely sized when you’re in there – not too big, not too small. There’s a bit of a story behind that…. read on fellow geometry geeks….

The sizes of all the panels, the openings, and the internal proportions are directly related to each other through the subdivision of a golden rectangle – so that the size of everything has some kind of relationship to the space around it. I’d wanted to play with that idea of proportion and generation for a while – to see how the relationships of sizes would ‘feel’ once built, as opposed to how they exist on paper. I really like the idea that there’s some kind of complexity or geometric theory informing apparently simple objects. Maybe its just me, but I think it works – it just feels quite, well, ‘right’?

Stuff is coming along, and starting to look a bit more hut-like. Progress has been a bit slower the last couple of weeks, as i’ve been helping the guys at the climbing centre dig out a church basement and burrow through a huge stone wall… grubby work, but pays the bills. After all that stone drilling and dust its nice to get back into the shed and work with timber for the remainder of the week.

Once the roof is up, its a case of staring on the interior fit-out. This is the fun bit, designing and making all the little details that make this thing awesome. Hammocks, desks with hidden drawers for pens, a tea-station, and a day-bed / folding seat in front of that window are all in the pipeline. Better get moving then…

This is my (slightly mumbly) talk on huts at the last Pecha Kucha night in Dundee. I’d never used a microphone before this moment and could probably have done with some practice.

See more talks here.

see the photos of the Pecha Kucha night here….

Well, things are starting to take shape. Japanese hand tools get used nearly as much as the power tools – these things really are hand made!

Once everything is drilled and made up, the panels fit together pretty quick. I’m putting this together in the full 3m length – by swapping panels around, I can also make it 1.8m or 2.4m long. The space feels pretty large in this length, i’ll try putting it together in all size configurations to see how each will work best with the interiors i’ve got planned.  The side window panel can be moved around to suit, and the end wall opposite the door is going to have a big 1m x 1m window in the centre.

Next step: the sheepswool insulation goes in, the cladding panels go on and the roof gets fitted. Then its off outside for photos and tests.