I remember seeing the tudong monks in Thailand living in the forest with their mosquito net arrangement hanging from the branch of a tree. So the idea of the hall being like the forest I can see didn't really come out until the structure of the oak was there. The lower parts are like tree trunks which produce smaller columns, with little branches reaching to the upper levels. I t is oak that has not been dried or naturally seasoned. If we used seasoned oak it would have been over twice as expensive.
Green oak has a long history.
Carpenters I have been talking to still understand how oak should be designed as a compression structure, i.e. all the joints are pushing downwards. The oak shrinks, but not in length. So we've chosen a material for a main structure which is imperfect, but we're using it in a way which understands that essential quality of change and plasticity. Evident cracks will emerge in the oak, and that's part of the process. So immediately we'll get a material which, after a few years, will look like its been there 100 years.