Kit Roundhouses
The development of the kit roundhouse represents the intention to create a building that does not have a limited life span due to rotting where posts meet the ground, and that can be taken apart and put back together many times over the years relatively easily, potentially in different locations. The resulting timber frame is comprised of standardised components, robust joinery, and no permanent fixings, and has a free-standing geometric rigidity. An effort has been made not to depart from the charm and aesthetic of the round pole, whilst developing joinery techniques derived from traditional framing, such as draw-pegged mortice and tenon joints, and cogged half-lap joints with through-tenons. Tapered stainless steel pegs can be used to enable them to be beaten in and out of the joint many times. The kit is based on a regular decagon ground plan, which inherently creates harmonious proportions within the timber frame owing to the fact that the sides of a regular decagon are in 'golden ratio' with the distance from one angle to the centre (effectively the 'radius').
Components for the kits are engineered, by hand and machine, from green oak round poles, to form standardised components. There are 7 different sorts of components comprising a kit frame. With the outer bark removed and the protective paint applied to all joint surfaces, the building has a beautiful finish, worthy of a domestic environment.
The kit frame is designed to be assembled and disassembled repeatedly, and act as a strong structure to support walls that may be ephemeral between relocations of the frame; it is intended to assist those who may struggle to commit to permanent structures owing to challenges posed by planning permission and by an unpredictable future in general. At least if you have this building, you can move it again later, either a few feet or hundreds of miles. The assembly time of the basic kit frame is about 8 hrs, and 5 hours for disassembly, assuming that the sequence of operations is familiar. All components are manageable by two strong people after a good breakfast.
The frame is available as a regular decagon, of between 6 and 6.5 metres 'diametre', with an eaves height of over 2 metres, and requires load-bearing pads arranged under each of the 10 corners, levelled relative to oneanother.
