| Barn raisings
were a common method of constructing buildings hundreds of years
ago. Even today, a barn raising is a community effort and event
in some Amish communities.
At daybreak, their families gather at the building
site and begin construction of the new barn under the direction
of a master carpenter. By noontime, the barn is framed, and
by evening the barn is completed. The men do the construction
while the women cook the meals and watch over the children.
It is an event that bonds the community together and is an opportunity
for skills and knowledge to be passed from the old to the young.
In the old days, some churches were constructed
in a similar way, but due to our modern construction techniques
and codes, those days are long gone. However, a church has been
constructed in central Finland that is somewhat reminiscent
of those barn-raising days.
The Karsamaki Church was constructed over a
period of five years, beginning in 2000. What makes this church
unique is that is was constructed entirely by hand without using
any electricity, machinery, or concrete.
The church was constructed on the site of an
eighteenth century church building that no longer existed. And
though the parishioners of the congregation that once owned
it had other facilities, they often met at the site in the summer
for services.
When they decided to build a new building on
the site, their architect, who had expertise in traditional
construction methods, suggested that they build it using old
Finnish techniques.
The congregation sponsored a design contest
at the University of Oulu Department of Architecture, and the
winning student produced a design for a simple timber building
that was approximately thirty feet square and thirty feet high
from the ground to the eave line.
Construction of the building was done using
the labor of about two hundred volunteers. Since no modern technologies
existed at the time when the old Finnish techniques were used,
the work was done without any modern tools.
Workers hand-cut stone and laid them in the
ground to form the foundation of the building. Then they cut
down about 160 trees and pulled them out of the woods using
horses. The logs were sawn by hand into square timbers that
were stacked to form walls.
About 53,000 shingles were fabricated from aspen
wood that was split and shaped into finished shingles. The 73,000
nails that fastened the shingles to the walls and roof were
also hand made by blacksmiths who forged them from scratch.
The heavy timber framework of the church roof
structure was joined together using heavy wooden pegs.
Even the tackle blocks and hoists needed to
lift the heavy timber logs into place were constructed on site
by hand.
Once the basic structure was completed, birch
bark was fastened to the roof, aspen shingles were nailed on
top, and the roof shingles were coated with tar to make a weathertight
seal.
When the walls were covered with shingles, construction
of the interior of the building began, constructing the floors
and stairs. Finally a glass cupola was added to the peak of
the roof.
The project attracted attention from all over
Europe and the world. Many of the workers were not locals, but
volunteers who came from as far away as the south part of Europe.
Camps were set up to accommodate architecture
students who came from all over the world to participate in
the project.
Nine local vocational schools also participated
in the project, sending students to work in its unique learning
environment. Knowledge of older master carpenters was passed
on to a new generation, who will hopefully pass it on to others
when they grow old.
This project demonstrated what can be achieved
when people identify with a common cause and want to be a part
of something that they can be proud of, and it was interesting
enough to keep some volunteers involved in the project for years.
Though barn-raisings and construction by hand
are a kind of romantic notion of the past, they are no longer
practical for the modern day church. Our society demands by
culture and by code that our buildings be built according to
rules that did not exist in the old days.
However, people in our churches can still learn
something from this, and that is that they can be bound together
by projects that create those same feelings of community and
camaraderie.
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