bridges, covered

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Oregon has a large number of covered bridges, where the wood trusses had to be protected from the persistent damp and subsequent rot and failure.  These are simple, rectangular, white clapboard (or board & batten) gabled ‘houses’, concealing impressive, large-scale Howe trusses inside.  I find engineered structures to have a brutal beauty, especially those of the early 20th Century, and often believe the Historic American Engineering Record to be much more fascinating than its architectural counterpart.  These covered bridges offer a wonderful contrast between the utilitarian trussed interiors and the domestic exterior form.  There might just be another project somewhere in there. . .

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square + barn

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Another trip to Oregon with my wife has yielded yet another flurry of agriculturo-vernacular projects.  This one is a barn, made a square, with exposed gothic-arched framing inside, and two shed-roofed wings to the side.  Two planters reflect these wings to create a larger cruciform plan.  Exposed diagonal beadboard makes up the wall treatment inside, while white painted board-and-batten the exterior walls and roof.

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