MIES - Boat House

Front Porch Vernacular

Oh, I like this.  Soft, subdued and unstressed lighting.  Norwegian nightscape with overcast skies, rocky terrain and a cold winter breeze.  This is tangible.  And the design here from TYIN tengnestue, a Norwegian design firm, captures what it's like to discover surprising ingenuity in a rural setting.

The Boat House at Night

Operable Metal Wall Panels

An Interior of White Metal Trusswork and Dried Wood Sheathing/Flooring

Boathouses in Norway were traditionally used for the storage of boats, but many are converting the older shacks into recreational houses for summer use. This particular boat house is remotely located, but nestled into the hills and protected by the landscape. Because it was worn down and desperately in need of some TLC, the decision was made to tear it down and build anew. Its remote location though made it challenging to bring in new materials, but just because the structure needed to be torn down, didn’t mean that the material wasn’t still worthwhile.

The Full Interior Opening Up

A Nearby Pond for Context

The original boathouse was built right on the ground, so after demolition a new foundation was built between the hills to raise the structure up above the water. Reclaimed wood from the original structure was used to line the interior, while windows from the clients’ nearby farmhouse were incorporated into the design. The exterior is clad in new, locally-sourced Norwegian Pine pressure treated with a product based on environmentally friendly bio-waste from the sugar cane industry. This treatment eliminates the need for any maintenance and will fade to a gray patina over time.

Firewood, Containers and a Cast Iron Cauldron

Detail Showing Batten Roof and Soffit Underneath

One of the most intriguing parts of the design is the movable shutter windows. Simple steel brackets and bolts allow the shutters to swing up to open the room to the exterior. Lights are incorporated inside the shutters, which are covered with simple cotton canvas and when turned on, the shutters glow like a lantern, illuminating both the interior and exterior. Skylights made from the translucent shutters and the windows let light into the interior. Many of the design decisions were made on site during the construction according to the available materials and their relationship with the environment to create a harmonious solution.

Transverse Elevation

Longitudinal Section

Transverse Section

Axonometric

BDCS Notes - Moisture Content of Wood

Moisture Content of Wood: The weight of water in the specimen expressed as a percentage of the oven-dry weight of the wood.

Oven-Dried Wood: A sample that has been dried in an oven at 100 C to 105 C until the wood attains a constant weight.

Moisture influences weight, shrinkage and strength of the wood. It exists in wood as either bound or free water. Bound water is held within the cell wall by adsorption forces, whereas free water exists as either condensed water or water vapor in the cell cavities.

The level of saturation at which the cell walls are completely saturated, but no free water exists in the cell cavities is called the fiber saturation point (FSP). The FSP ranges from 21% to 32% in most species. The FSP is important because the addition or removal of moisture below the FSP has a large effect on practically all physical and mechanical properties of wood, whereas above the FSP, the properties are largely independent of moisture content.

When moisture content of wood is above the FSP, wood is dimensionally stable. Anything below the FSP will result in dimensional changes. Also, moisture content in wood depends on air temperature and humidity.

The moisture content for the average atmospheric conditions is the equilibrium moisture content (EMC). The EMC ranges from less than 1%, at temperatures greater than 55C and 5% humidity, to over 20% at temperatures less than 27 C and 90% humidity.