My big project for 2009 has been a new workshop. The main floor is 42X52 feet. The structure us based on a central arched truss which spans the long dimension of the building. All trusses have been built on site by me and one full time helper (Lee) and several great volunteers from time to time.


Celebrating the raising of the truss. It was hinged to the slab and raised by two tractors and pulled by a truck.

View from the north

The Truss being readied for the raising

We made a 40 foot ramp to drag the 270 pound pieces of glass up to make the skylight.

Raising a small truss into place. The old David Brown was our trusty lifter for all things heavy.
Tal, my new father in law, cranking the come-along

Skeleton almost complete

wood ribs bent and glued attached to tabs on trusses


The Walls are made out of lightweight cement panels, blocks and some poured in place sections. I am using the foam machine to introduce air and the basalt mesh and chopped basalt fibers from Sudaglass.

Panel molds
Panels in various stages on the studio floor

The panels are coming along. Handling them has gotten easier. We have been letting them set 4 or 5 days before lifting them up, which is not very long, but we don't have the space for them to be laying around for weeks. We have only cracked one - it was three days old, but the crack didn't travel too far, and it is obviously much less movement than if the reinforcement had been steel.

The north wall is being made by a different method. I have been pouring it in place and moving the forms up as I go.

Forms for the north wall. The lightweight cement is especially liquid and is very challenging to form and pour. It loves to come shooting out of very small holes. Also, pouring deeper than 18 inches, the stuff starts to lose its loft, so I ended up going 8 or 10 inches at a time. I love the sedimentary look of all those batches, and I even like the mismatches between positions of the form.



The West end of the building is being built with interlocking blocks made of the lightweight cement. Note the window sills being cast out of concrete.