Saturdays mornings at the lab were often way too early and way too cold, but after stopping at Dunkin’ for a large hot coffee (or a maniacal iced latte in Sasa’s case), they were usually our most productive days. One Saturday, we were prototyping early models for the cabin facade. While we always work at multiple scales, we knew we needed to generate a full-scale mockup that could document a simple proof-of-concept.

We collected two logs that were previously sliced and patched them together with a nail gun, creating a surprisingly convincing lapped surface that was over ten feet tall. The lab is a scrappy place. There wasn’t a single backdrop that wasn’t filled with archived constructions or covered in sawdust. For the large mockup, we resorted to using the crisp white overhead door of the warehouse that housed the lab.

Sasa and I carried the mockup out into the snowy parking lot, typical of frigid Ithaca winters. I stood by, balancing the wood assemblage from behind while Sasa took photos from his iPhone. I shifted the mockup a bit to cover the door’s single window and tried to keep it still as my limbs started to quiver. “Not bad!” I remember Sasa exclaiming. As soon as I got the OK, I went back to my hot coffee inside. That photo remains the most-liked on my Instagram to this day!

— Brian Havener [Wood Team Member, M.Arch ‘17 at Cornell AAP, Former Research Associate at Cornell RCL]