Exhibit: Notre-Dame de Paris: La Forêt Model Project with Handshouse Studio

Located in the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute Classroom

This exhibit showcases a 1:10 scale white oak model of the east end of what is known in French as “La Forêt” (“The Forest”), the intricate wooden roof framework that, incorporating timber from trusses of an even earlier, 12th-century roof, stood above the stone vaults of Notre-Dame de Paris from the 13th century until the roof was destroyed by fire on April 15, 2019.

Made of a dizzying array of mortise and tenon joints, this project has traveled across the nation to Massachusetts Institute of Technology Architecture Program, North Bennet Street School, and the University of Georgia. Each school builds a section of the model, which is based on both Rémi Fromont and Cédric Trentesaux’s meticulous hand-drawn survey and the remarkable composite laser survey assembled by the Chantier scientifique (CNRS/MC).

Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute proudly welcomes Handshouse Studio of Norwell, MA in this collaborative hands-on project. Handshouse inspires participants to get into the “mind of the maker,” to use the period tools, materials, and processes of the time, to learn about who, why and how it was made. In this way, we hope to offer a new generation access to this history, personal tactile understanding of the ingenuity and significance of the technology and architecture of timber trusses that once protected Notre-Dame de Paris, and the materials, tools and processes used to make them. Learn more at https://www.handshouse.org/work#/notre-dame-truss/

Sponsored by Hardwoods of Michigan

This exhibit will be the culmination of a 5-day course at the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute, where students will join others from the notable schools listed above, to build a section of La Forêt. If you are interested in taking this course at the SBWI, please click here.