Windmill Hill Farm
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THE TEAM. Client - The Rothschild Foundation. Architect - Stephen Marshall Associates. Project Engineer - Thornton Tomasetti. Main Contractor - Kingerlee Ltd. Timber Structure Specialist - The Green Oak Carpentry Company Ltd. Photographer - Chris Honeywell, Working Images.
Completed in 2012 the structure is a stress skin diagrid formed of 300 x 70 oak glulam beams with crown cut oak facing veneers, forming large planar trusses, leant against each other to form what may be seen as a ‘contemporary twist on a traditional barn roof’.
GOCC drawing showing the arrangement of primary, secondary and tertiary beams for each roof plane, each has a unique code to locate it within the structure during assembly.
The beams are CNC jointed with a stepped housings to very fine tolerances.
The roof assembly took place under a large sliding roof canopy to protect the beams from water staining and to keep the sections stable, and also to allow the beams to be lifted into position with a crane.
The top layer of ply comprised very large sheets of birch faced ply measuring 9.6 x 2.4 metres, especially manufactured to minimise butt joints and speed up assembly.
The client required the roof to be simple and elegant: ‘like a piece of furniture – without visible joints or timber defects.’ All agree this was achieved and even surpassed. Oak veneers were all sawn (not rotary peeled) with 6mm thick crown cut face veneers and quarter cut edge veneers on the visible sofit, to as much as possible give the appearance of a solid beam.
Timber staves form a vertical Brise Soleil, a clever form of the device used here to minimise excessive solar gain and reduce solar glare inside the building.
A truly beautiful piece of modern architecture with cutting edge engineering that required the builder and carpenter to work closely together to deliver a very high standard of construction with attention to detail. No small achievement and a great credit to Kingerlee Builders.
This building won the Wood Awards Gold for The Green Oak Carpentry Company for the third time. We think the results speak for themselves.
What follows is a further selection of photos of Windmill Hill Farm.
What follows is a further selection of photos of Windmill Hill Farm.
What follows is a further selection of photos of Windmill Hill Farm.
What follows is a further selection of photos of Windmill Hill Farm.
What follows is a further selection of photos of Windmill Hill Farm.
What follows is a further selection of photos of Windmill Hill Farm.
“"We wanted to write to you to express our profound gratitude for the excellent work you have done on our building scheme. It cannot have been easy to pick up the project from another architect when there were still a number of issues unresolved, but you have done so brilliantly and remained calm throughout, even at fraught times. We really do appreciate that you have gone the extra mile for us. We have all enjoyed working with you and have been so impressed with the quality of your work."
Alastair, The Early Years Project
“"Just to say that it looks fabulous, and all who survey it are wonder-struck. Best wishes and many thanks to you all."
Simon, National Trust
“"Thanks for the excellent job which has just been completed on the Oak Frame extension to the above property. Not only is the quality of the work faultless, it is a true work of art, which will bring endless enjoyment to me and my wife. The end result has surpassed our wildest expectations."
Ray Nicolaides
“"Everyone is very impressed with the finished result and I thought I would just take the opportunity of belatedly giving my thanks to you and your team for a job very well done. I have submitted the bridge for a Civic Society award for next year and have every expectation of its success."
P White, Northholt & Greenford Countryside Park Manager
“"Just a quick note to say thank you for sending such a great team to do the work. As well as clearly being very hardworking and hugely skilled, Mick, Andy, Clark and Dave were all exceptionally pleasant, considerate and cheerful guys to have around, and as such a huge credit to Green Oak."
Julia, Crabfields Farm