Building with whole small trees article
An interesting article in the New York times on an architect who builds with whole small trees and branches.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/garden/05tree.html?em
Not new, of course, I have seen a number of cottages which use some whole small trees and branches for particularly for non structural items. Some years ago one of my girl friends lived in a house where small tree sections supported a balcony and the railing was natural limbs – none of which would come close to passing code these days…
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Very cool. Thanks, Casey.
Yep, neat article.
Localities with IRC in place would probably not allow anything near that (tried to get approval for some similar stuff in Kent, WA (an IRC locale) a couple years ago, pretty much told "not even with an engineers stamp'.
My be better now if I put 'green' on the plans and the # of permits has dropped from thousands per month to 10 ???
Yes, it's cool as long as you don't have to get it inspected. I don't see where he's doing anything new either, people have been using whole trees in houses since they started building houses. His railing would not pass code on several levels nor would his stairs.