08/05/2026
With limited financial resources, the Dining House team members were charged to “reuse, remake, and reimagine.” They used leftover materials, used products from previous projects, and took the opportunity to mill pine trees that were cut down to allow Newbern’s municipal wastewater system.
Tolerances were the biggest challenge for the project: The team had to understand the tolerances needed when connecting to the rough cut timber structure, and they met that challenge head on in the mock-up. Unlike commercial 2x material, the rough cut timber has many dimensional inconsistences. That’s its beauty but also its beast. For a carpenter, this tolerance challenge takes years of experience and iteration to handle well, but the team had to meet the challenge in one mock-up!
The Dining House team has exercised enormous diligence, patience, and maturity in building and studying the mock-up. With that work (90% complete), they’ve tested and pushed the materials in both experimental and efficient ways and have also applied the concept of a large, expansive roof to protect the structure from the weather.
The Dining House serves as a gatehouse to the residential area of Morrisette Campus. As the mock-up nears completion, the Dining House itself is taking shape and has the slab, the courtyard porch, and some of the framing for the building walls in place. The north and south “boxes” are ready to be sheathed with plywood. Next, the team will erect structural roof columns and a substantial ridge beam to span the boxes.
We are delighted with the work! Stay tuned!
