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The new docklands library. The structure is a structural timber. Not steel or concrete.
Clearly the bollards on the (now a) promenade (previously a working wharf) are pointless - no doubt there was an urban design decision that retaining them would "hold the memory" of the previously life of this once hard working place. Instead, this is the financial head quarters of Australia - So while there are people working hard here, they work hardest to make sure you don't get ahead. There is a great book review here on an expose on Wall Street
297-2739
The most comprehensive study of the use of bog wood in Ireland that I know of was written by A T (Tony) Lucas in Béaloideas 23 (pages 70 - 134), the journal of the Folklore Society of Ireland, in 1954; the author became the director of the National Museum of Ireland that same year.
Bog wood use grew as Ireland became denuded of forestry by the 17th century though he surmises that there might already have been significant usage in parts of the west where the number of trees was small and trees may not have grown at that time. I would add that in my understanding of this era, deforestation was generally both economic and military-strategic - removing forest got rid of hiding places for native rebels and armed resistance so it formed a key part of the colonisation effort at the time.
There were local experts in finding bog wood, reading the dew on the ground (accounts differ exactly how this was done, and the lack of known scientific basis for this is referred to). However there are many accounts referring to this process. They then used a long metal rod to probe and establish the size of a piece. To check whether an exposed part was from the same tree as wood discovered nearby with the probe (and therefore long enough for the purpose sought), an ingenious method was used to 'sound' a piece; it was struck hard on the exposed piece with another person placing the probe on the hidden wood against their teeth - if it was all part of the same timber then the vibration would be felt. Getting the timber out of the ground could also be a major piece of hard work but there were established techniques.
As well as structural timber (beams*, frames etc) it was used for furniture, and other items including spinning wheels, carts, boats, barrels, churns and various vessels. The wood fibres were used extensively for ropes for all purposes, again with established techniques for making them. Splits of bog pine were used as torches and these gave a better light than rushes, and did not need tallow (which the Irish peasantry may not have had); while these would often be stuck in a crack in the wall, as they needed attention to ensure the best light, children were often given the task. Bog oak carvings were being produced to sell as souvenirs by 1846.
One of the most interesting uses (page 130) is the harp which belonged to the famous northern harpist Donnchadh Ó hAmhsaigh a k a Hempson or O Hampsey (his dates are listed as 1695-1807 which would have made him 112 when he died!). He played at the Belfast Harp festival of 1792 (using an old and now dead fingering technique), and Wikipedia informs us that he did play some of O Carolan's music "but disliked it for being too modern"! He was presented with a harp on his eighteenth birthday on which was inscribed:
"In the time of Noah I was green,
Since his flood I had not been seen,
Until Seventeen hundred and two I was found
By Cormac O Kelly underground
He raised me up to that degree
That Queen of Musick you may call me."
The harp is on display at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
This article establishes both the ubiquity of bog wood use (where it was available) and the inventiveness of people in using it. He includes some Irish language vocabulary associated with bog wood use, and the article is fully annotated.
I find it an amazing story of human ingenuity in using what people had access to, at a time when ordinary folk in Ireland had virtually nothing - though it was not just used by the poor.
The original article is at www.jstor.org/stable/20521230?Search=yes&resultItemCl... and unfortunately it's not open access though you may be able to register and read for free.
*A part of a structural beam in my possession can be seen at www.flickr.com/photos/boggerwood/43872353624/in/dateposte... and a finished (carved) slice of it at www.flickr.com/photos/boggerwood/52253443334/in/dateposte...
This is the foundation and structural timbers seen Oct. 27, 2010 at Mill Springs Mill, which is a historical gristmill from the 1800s that is preserved and administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District. The mill is located off Kentucky Highway 90 between Burnside and Monticello on the banks of scenic Lake Cumberland in Mill Springs, Ky. (USACE photo by Lee Roberts)
Cellphone: In an old building, in downtown Bakersfield, the roof rafters and support beams formed an very interesting pattern, that I snapped with my cellphone. This building at one time was the Greyhound bus terminal and is currently used as a recording studio.
28th February 2012
Just one week in to the frame and envelope construction.
this 420 square metre building
has an oak clad glu-laminated timber frame and highly insulated composite panel roof and walls.
for more information visit www.fordingbridge.co.uk
Cellphone: In an old building, in downtown Bakersfield, the roof rafters and support beams formed an very interesting pattern, that I snapped with my cellphone. This building at one time was the Greyhound bus terminal and is currently used as a recording studio.
28th February 2012
Just one week in to the frame and envelope construction
this 420 square metre building
has an oak clad glu-laminated timber frame and highly insulated composite panel roof and walls.
for more information visit www.fordingbridge.co.uk
28th February 2012
Just one week in to the frame and envelope construction.
This 420 square metre building
has an oak clad glu-laminated timber frame and highly insulated composite panel roof and walls.
for more information visit www.fordingbridge.co.uk
28th February 2012
Just one week in to the frame and envelope construction.
this 420 square metre building
has an oak clad glu-laminated timber frame and highly insulated composite panel roof and walls.
for more information visit www.fordingbridge.co.uk
28th February 2012
Just one week in to the frame and envelope construction
this 420 square metre building
has an oak clad glu-laminated timber frame and highly insulated composite panel roof and walls.
for more information visit www.fordingbridge.co.uk