nazSTUFF - Building a Virtual Pithouse in 3D

Rascal Inquires, " If You Are Not Concerned About the Future, Then You Haven't Been Paying Attention." This, then is our advertising campaign, to contribute to your well being.

Rebuilding a Sinagua Pithouse - Part 02

"Northern Arizona Experience" - CLICK ON ANY IMAGE for more information and design details. Make changes.

Continued from previous page...

Installing interior roof supports.

This is how our 3D model looks to this point. All four vertical roof beam supports are in place and have been adjusted for height. Selecting and cutting and shaping these massive logs requires considerable labor and skill. The chosen tree must be fairly straight with a strong branch at just the right height to help support the next most important piece, two horizontal roof beams- rafters. In my research I found information suggesting that some of these original beams have been found with burn marks at the stump. This suggests that fire was used to help shorten and shape the beam. Then stone tools were used to chop and shape the rest. We can only imagine the time involved.

Comment: Validation of this architecture is often found when a pithouse is excavated by professionals. As they gently remove the eroded soil from the depression they'll find the post holes where these vertical beams once stood. As explained before the wood material is all gone but the size of the hole bears witness to the size of the beam, hand made.

Here we have placed the next larger cross beams on parallel vertical supports. This is the core support of the entire structure.

The first course of rafters are now installed. I've not seen any information about how these were held in place but I assume they were tied in some way.

This completes the rafter/rooftop portion of the structure as far as logs, poles and sticks are concerned. It must be emphasized that my rendering is showing the geometry in its simplest form. It looks very concise. In real life this would be far more organic, with no piece actually straight nor exact. In the pictures I've seen this top layer is in fact more like a bundle of twigs composed of pieces of various diameters and lengths.

Detail from museum exhibit

At this point we have added the ladder and placed some stones that make a fire pit. I do not know the actual order of how things were done in real time, I'm doing it this way within this software program as a matter of building things from the inside out.

I've installed the first rafter pole, here is where we utilize the ledge carved all around the periphery.

The first quarter portion is in place. This will be repeated three times until all four sections are complete. I've learned that this pattern isn't always used. Sometimes these major rafters are radiated more like spokes. Either way, keep in mind that the actual construction was never as precise as this rendering. Everything originally was organic. Pieces were simply made to fit. Cut trees were not perfectly straight. Design elements were added or substracted in the moment to make it work. It was all going to be covered with mud/clay anyway so in the end being weather proof was all that mattered.

Our 3D "site" is developing. Hundreds of small sticks, tree branches, have been laid horizontally on this inclining roof panel. We are reminded again of the fact that the large log rafters are seated directly into the ground. In homes today no wooden feature is allowed to touch the ground because of rot and insects from soil moisture. This necessity in a pithouse clearly shortened its life.

~~~~~~~~

Continued on next page...

More Info on our BLOG