This 42 x 42-ft. clear-span pavilion is essentially one large complex roof on four masonry columns. It's highly visible, right downtown on the newly reclaimed Willamette River waterfront of Salem, Oregon.
This Rotary Pavilion in Salem, Oregon is tangible result of years of lobbying by Rotarian Mark Wulf and is a large and complex structure with almost entirely com-pound joinery. This structure depends upon the four masonry columns to resolve outward forces, making it possible for us to create an airy and open roof system without major tie beams from corner to corner. In a real way, this evokes the earliest uses of heavy timber construction in the great cathedrals of Europe: masonry walls supporting and resolving the thrust of lofty roof systems. Participants had access to qualified and experienced instructors in English scribe, square rule, and compound joinery through the two weeks. The build was spread out on a downtown work site that was a defunct industrial facility right on the banks of the WillametteRiver, now reclaimed as a pastoral city park.
Local Partner
Salem Rotary Club
Local Partner Heroes
Mark Wulf, Tim Nissen
Local hero
Jim DeSantis
Notable aspects
Scribing, square rule, compound joinery, complex and large-scale crane raising. Highly collaborative project.
TFG leaders
Curtis Milton, Don Rigby, Steve Lawrence, Gordon Macdonald, Joel McCarty, others
In-kind donors
Arbuckle Costic Architects
GRK Fasteners
O'Neill Pine Company (trees for timbers)
C L Youngman (engineers)
Leisinger Designs (landscape design and site work)
Don Lulay Homes (general contractor)
Northcott Woodturning contributed pegs to help hold this event together
Marion Construction (fencing)
Honey Buckets
DeSantis Landscapes (landscaping)
Dalke Construction (excavation)
C.D. Redding Construction (concrete footings and columns)
Walling Sand & Gravel Co. (concrete)
Riverbend Sand & Gravel (crushed rock and dump site)
Redmond & Associates (soils engineering)
Carlson Geotechnical (concrete testing)
Bethel Excavating (finish grading)
Judson's Plumbing, Heating, and Electrical (plumbing)
Meier Plumbing
Prier Pipe and Supply (plumbing materials)
Sparky Electric
Santiam Electric
Pumilite Building Products (bricks)
Kaufman Masonry (installation of brick facing on columns)
Sherman, Sherman, Johnnie & Hoyt, LLP (legal contract)
Supervinyl Signs & Banners (signs)
Clyde's Key Lock & Safe Service
Salem Hospital (food)
Photographers
Joel McCarty, Jon Hazen, Ron Cooper, Tim Nissen, Denis Buet
Narrative
Scantlings 111, 113, 115