Custom plaque for Hannas reading place

Here's a solid figured maple plaque made from the same stock used in the reading places. These will be installed prior to the dedication reception, planned for February 17, 2011.  Click on either for higher resolution images.

Reading places installed - 12/20/2010

The reading places were installed on Monday, December 20th.  Top photos of reading place along intensive side library wall were taken by Kristian Whipple, who also happens to be a big, brawny guy with excellent furniture moving and lashing-down skills, from years of outdoor education and general excellent dude knowledge.  Curved reading place photos, which are pretty bad, are by yours truly. More photos to come at the upcoming dedication.

Pieces prior to move-in...

Here's a quick view of the completed pieces, one without shelf, prior to move-in.

Reading Places in Progress

Here's a set of images from the fabrication phase, which took place from June to December of 2010.  Overall, there's over 250 hours of fabrication time in this project.  All lumber was sourced locally or regionally. 

These are templates cut for the seat base and curved cushion for the transitional reading place.  Both were cut on the vinyl plotter, using Inkscape and SignCut Pro.  This saved a LOT of time - great being able to "print" full-sized patterns.

The form that was used for 70" long bent components.  Remember to cover the working surfaces with (preferably reinforced) plastic packaging tape - really helps with cleanup of squeeze-out.

These are the 40" bent laminated back slats - they have 4 5/16" plies - all matched from the same resawn 6/4 stock.

A stack of 70" curved laminations ready to be trimmed.

4/4 oak clamped up for the 16" wide arched front aprons.  The rectangular opening for the long intensive side piece is glued as a gap - I'm not any good at chiseling inside corners.

7' long oak "headrest".  2" thick, but not all the way through...

...added some reinforcement to make it plenty strong...

...but just as heavy.  There's a 3/4" x 1" x 6'10" long mortise that follows the entire base...didn't have the courage to cut 30 separate mortises, without knowing exactly how the back slats would be spaced.  1/32" shift over 30 pieces = losing an inch...

Close-up of the mortise.  The ends of the mortise were eventually chiseled square.

Checking the fit, and the curve of the back (upside down).

When the cushions arrived from Yacht Canvas in Annapolis, MD., we tested the fit with a mocked-up intensive side bench.  This cushion is 6'6" long.

The intensive side back with headrest.  Note - strategically placed 20" recumbent trike tire in foreground for size reference.

The back - trying for comfort, not ergonomics.

Roughing out the frame for the curved transitional side reading place.

With the curved back slats and cushion in place, it's starting to look like something you could sit on...but not a good idea (being held up by a wedge of ply).

From the other side.  The real challenge was figuring out the spacing of the floating tenons along two offset arcs.  The top plate is 12/4 x 6" solid maple, following a 8' long arc.  Lots of slow, steady template routing.

The reverse of the piece - awaiting a kerfed 3/4" ply skin.  The piece is parted at the footer - there's three sections - a base, a seat, and the back.  All are joined with carriage bolts prior to final assembly.

The solid 3" x 2" x 6' quartersawn pin oak seat edge was mortised to accept the first slat and floating tenon.

Just about ready to add some finish.  The final mock-up of the intensive side reading place.  No glue yet - friction is the only thing holding it all together!

All finish was hand-wiped - I used a boiled linseed oil / poly blend to make the grain of the maple pop.  These are the short radiuses for the back of the transitional piece.

Final view prior to moving - note the moving dollies under the curved piece.  Each weighs in excess of 500 lbs.

A close-up of the laminated curves for the back of the transitional piece.  There were 70 components, each cut to unique lengths to minimize aligned seams, all glued to a bent ply base skin.

Quick video - bent lamination glue-up

bent lamination glue up
Originally uploaded by mattbarinholtz

Here's a quick view of laying up the curved pieces for the reverse of the transitional side reading place. There's three 3" x 5/16" x 36" maple strips in each component, all matched from the same resawn piece.  They're being bent on a reclaimed mdf form, and follow a master curve that appears in the seat back, curve of the bench, and curve in the base / apron.  Glue is Unibond, mixed for a hot (quick) set, and clamped for 3 hrs.  Very little springback, great glue - wouldn't recommend anything else - be sure to wear lung protection if you're mixing up a big batch.

Final drawings - for St. Elizabeths ribbon cutting - click to view!

updated measured drawings, forensic library idea

Here's an updated set of drawings, in animated form.  I'm thinking we'll keep the piece in the civil library close to the same scope, but move the reading place in the forensic library along the solid wall.  Sorry - no photo of that wall to match at this date.  Will have updated photo soon. Rough dimensions - 8' wide, including bookshelf x 5' high, including the marquetry panel.


Forensic reading place - note hanging "marquetry panel" above the seat - this will provide more real estate, and allow us to incorporate imagery into the piece - anchors it along the wall, and would make separating (moving) the furniture undesirable, if not impossible.

Here's a video of the installation that I just completed in the forensic entrance - note the large array of marquetry panels on the high wall - it will give you an idea of what we could do...using many woods...the imagery would be up to the team, but hopefully would follow a theme that would be repeated in the civil side reading place.



Here's the images from original civil side proposal, updated...


Civil reading place



Another view of the civil reading place. I suggest that the back side receives some sort of marquetry treatment - a simple image across the back, to be determined by the team. Otherwise, a marquetry panel or set of panels on the wall next to the place will tie it to that part of the room...

Looking forward to your feedback!

Initial measured drawings

 

 

 

Wood and textiles....

though you might get a kick out of her work....


http://www.elisastrozyk.de/seite/woodtex/wooden%20carpet.html

Ways to change sound in the room - textiles on wall / bench?

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/01/16/clouds-by-ronan-and-erwan-bouroullec/

http://www.dezeen.com/2010/01/08/urban-adapter-by-rocker-lange-architects/

really really rough sketches - just imagining a space

 non secure side idea above

secure side idea

Acoustic solutions?

Libraries need to be quiet places.  These rooms will reflect a lot of sound.

There's ways to create narrow channels in the base or less conspicuous parts of the pieces, covered by textured,  slotted or perforated panels - you can see a wall-sized example here:

A ceiling treatment:

http://www.vercongroup.com.au/img/gallery/pren/large/_MG_1071.jpg

A rounded wall surface:
http://www.far-audio.com/images/rounded_slats.jpg

Source for the prior, with more examples:
http://www.far-audio.com/acoustic_panels.php


Commercially available wall panels are also an option...

http://www.xlprosystems.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=95

They can get pretty out there and involved - this is a veneer membrane over an acoustic foam core - nothing that we could do, but interesting to look at:
http://www.metropolismag.com/webimages/923/Ply5_t346.jpg

Here's just something awesome looking - taking on the idea of topology and slices / layers to create a structure, and is all about sound  -

http://mydesignfix.com/2009/12/14/mafoombey-acoustic-space-martti-kalliala-esa-ruskeep/