54 | Oregon Home THE MORNING OF the French-Wallace pavilion project, about a dozen volunteers had gathered over pastries and coffee at a foundation site built in the couple’s backyard. A bell rang out, and the group, including the homeowners, raised the timber frame into position, each person shouldering about 25 pounds of the weight. Once everything was secure, the crowd began to shout. “There’s a sense of exhilaration when a large bent [at its simplest, a truss with legs] stands vertical and the weight of the timbers slack,” says Jonathan Orpin, founder and president of New Energy Works. Afterward, the company performs a traditional ceremony where a pine bough is secured to the frame’s ridge in honor of the trees used and the effort the group has put forth, and everyone toasts the new owners. In its 30 years in business, New Energy Works has done about a dozen community raisings involving groups of volunteers. The company’s largest was a 100-person one-day project for the Benedictine Brewery in Mt. Angel. “When we do a community raising, we look to feasibility,” Orpin says. New Energy Works always considers why it would raise the timber frame this traditional way. “I’ve long lamented that so many people know more about their new cars than their new home, and we want to be sure the home or structure starts off on the very highest note,” Orpin says. PHOTOS BY NOEL ADAMS Raise
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