Notre Dame roof reconstruction

[Mark Gibney]

Great thread. Looking forward to seeing more from this.
Going to look up your son's instagram page too.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Resurrecting this thread. NPR just broadcast a segment on this process, including interviewing an American.

Cool bit. You can go to NPR site - Morning Edition - for a replay and/or read later this morning.

[Kevin Jenness]

The carpenter interviewed here was quoted on Morning Edition this morning. The full-length interview is well worth listening to, an in-depth discussion of the process. https://wtip.org/wtip-speaks-with-pe...g-restoration/ Everything here jibes with what I've heard from my son. I heard a short clip on NPR last week which gave the impression that all the work was being done with hand tools but this interview confirms that the other participants in the project are using a mix of modern and traditional kit except for the hand-hewn finished surfaces.

Miles is home for a visit and to oversee the start of one of his own projects in Scranton. He'll head back to Normandy from mid June until August, and hopes to return in November to participate in the roof erection in Paris. He said that the fabrication is going on schedule despite the delay in drawing production and that the installation crew will start setting the plates on the stone walls in July.

[Kevin Jenness]

Here's an NPR article with photos on the work being done at Ateliers Perrault in Normandy, an expanded version of the radio piece mentioned by Kent. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/11/11796...e-rebuild-roof The first picture shows how the transverse frames connect the principal trusses and support the chords of the secondary trusses. Others show parts set up for scribing and the memorial plumb bobs given out to all the carpenters working on the project.

I was initially a bit surprised that the Perrault and Desmonts have no mention of the project, but they and all the participants are bound by non-disclosure agr

[Kevin Jenness]

An article from a VT weekly paper on one of the American team members. https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/...152.1688329329

[alan weinberg]

Let’s see an update. Fascinating thread. It’s my favorite building in the world, Notre Dame cathedral.

[Keith Christopher]

Way cool. We were just in Paris in early June and visited the cathedral, So amazing to think that it took ~300 years to complete construction.

[Kevin Jenness]

Sooner than I had expected, the first trusses are in place, hoisted by crane from a barge on the Seine . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHnUHlFBzHs https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...DOpzYziGi4FAw8

Here's a short video narrated by an American carpenter working at Ateliers Perrault on the project, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNgoSmgB3nQ
If you look closely at the hewing process you can see that two sides are sawn out on a mill before the other two are kerfed and hewn, as at Remy Desmonts.

Another video showing work in progress at both the Perreault and Desmonts shops. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDMBE_O44c At 6:11 you can see my son Miles at the back/top of the group, with Loic Desmonts front and center.

And some action shots and brief interview with Will Gusakov of Lincoln, VT. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn5y1iFKI-0

[Joe Calhoon]

Thanks Kevin, very interesting! Great that your son was able to take part!

[Mark Hennebury]

great stuff! thanks.

[andrew whicker]

I just went down a small rabbit hole of that twisted spire. For those who also find it interesting, here are a few more photos:

Twisted spire

Place: Offrenville / Pays de Caux
Church: Saint Ouen

This one is hard to Google because there is a HUGE church w/ the same saint that gets all the press. Found some more photos though:

Saint Ouen Twisted Spire.jpg

St Ouen Twisted Spire 2.jpg


Here's another neat spire that came up - St Ouen church in Duranville:

St Ouen Duranville.jpg


And another cool spire in Bournainville-Faverolles:

church in Bournainville.jpg

This is an awesome thread and I much appreciate all the cool info and photos! Love in the inspiration. Keep the updates coming.

[Kevin Jenness]

They are quite cool for sure. Wikipedia lists 70 in France, and over a hundred in total in various countries. We stumbled across the ones in Bures-en-Bray and Offrenville quite by accident. Framing a plumb steeple is a feat in itself, a spiral one something else indeed.

[Mike Null]

What a wonderful thread! I've had the good fortune to visit Notre Dame a few times. It is a remarkable structure but for me the windows are the highlight. Some time back I saw a documentary and in it they said that they discounted steel as a structural replacement for the beams as it would have been inferior and would not last as long as timbers assuming they could source the timbers.

I bet your son can't wait to go to work every day.

Thanks for posting!

[Kevin Jenness]

Here's a recent aerial video of the cathedral. Doesn't really show any action but it does give an idea of the building's scale and setting and one can make out the recently installed trusses camouflaged by a forest of staging. https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/aerial-...tion-1.6485905

[Christian Hawkshaw]

I think this is a new coverage:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/notre-d...-leap-forward/