St. Olaf Chime Tower & Art Barn

I have worked with St Olaf College on two projects, from design through raising. The joinery for both frames was cut at North House Folk School with diverse groups of St Olaf faculty and staff: deans, office staff, professors, lecturers, maintenance workers and carpenters.

The Chime Tower design started with a photo taken of a white-board sketch and then fleshed out by a St Olaf draftsmen. From that, I created the frame and joinery design. The overarching idea was to maintain open space within the roof to hang wind chimes, one for each person who had died while a student at the college. We chose to use standing dead harvested Western Larch for its sustainability, taking into account the trees past life as well as future rot resistance. The frame was cut and raised in 2002.

The original Art Barn was designed and constructed by the first art professor at St Olaf, Arnold Flaten in 1932. Though not a timber framed structure, it was embellished with carved timbers. When the Art Barn was slated for demolition to make room for a new science center, the Flatten family donated money for a re-construction. I was given the original drawings and then created the frame to match the exterior dimensions, open interior spaces and reflect the original design and intent. We utilized a mix of reclaimed White and Red Pine from a grainery in Superior, Wisconsin and standing dead Western Larch. The frame was cut in 2007 and raised in 2012. See St Olaf's Art Barn story and photos.