The Hampshire College Lemelson Center

Anyone working in the shop over the past few weeks has noticed something different: A structure being built, then taken down, then put up again. This building-in-progress is the work of Division III student Benjamin Obriecht. The project is a teahouse, a one-room timber framed building that draws upon Japanese aesthetics and traditional American techniques.

Ben Obriecht's timber framed teahouse being assembled behind the Lemelson shop.

Genesis of the project began with Ben’s love of Japanese architecture and his background in timber framing, a building style in which larger pieces of wood are joined with physical wooden joists. The style is a contrast to light or “stick” framing, in which the pieces are butted against each other and nailed together. While stick framing, which requires less labor and craftsmanship, has become more commonplace in the building industry, there has been a steady demand for timber-framed buildings, which are stronger and display the skill of the woodworker. To obtain these skills, Ben practiced timber framing at the Heartwood School, a homebuilding school in Washington, MA.

Once he finished the design for the teahouse, Ben set out to use as much local material as he could find, repurposing timbers from the Hampshire College Farm Center CSA Barn and harvesting hemlock, pine, birch and cherry lumber from the surrounding woods. These he hewed by hand using woodworking tools like the hammer and chisel. Several of the beams were left in log form, with the bark stripped, imparting an organic feel to the shelter. “The building has a Japanese influence, but Japanese timber framing is very different from American timber framing,” said Obriecht. “This is neither purely American nor purely Japanese.” The structure will have a wraparound porch, and temporary walls will be put up for Ben’s exhibit of the teahouse in the Hampshire College Main Gallery. An advantage to a timber framed building is that it can be assembled and taken down without damaging the beams or requiring new materials.

Ben Obriecht with his timber-framed teahouse.

Following the gallery installation, Ben would like to find a permanent location for his teahouse. “I’d like to have a final location on Hampshire campus,” he said. Once the house has a home, Ben will add board or lime plaster walls. “I really like the design and the art aspect of timber framing,” he said, and observed the current backlash against Mcmansions and other cheap, mass-produced architecture. “There is definitely a value placed on a craft like timber framing. There are a lot of people who want something that was connected to a person.”

Ben’s teahouse will be on display in the Main Gallery of the Hampshire College Library from December 1-5, with a reception on December 5th at 6:00pm.