Handshouse Studio: Notre Dame Truss project
OVERVIEW
After the 2019 fire that destroyed the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris, Handshouse created the Notre-Dame Project as a gesture of global solidarity among makers.
A drawing from the hand-drawn survey by Rémi Fromont and Cédric Trentesaux that which Handshouse was given exclusive access to for the Notre-Dame Project.
Following our educational mission of creating ambitious, collaborative hands-on projects to explore history, technology, and the arts, Handshouse brought together a team of traditional carpenters, historians, architects, and students from across the United States to build a full-scale reconstruction of Notre Dame’s choir truss #6.
With exclusive access to a hand-drawn survey of the timber roof structure—created by Chief Architect of Historic Monuments Rémi Fromont and his colleague Cédric Trentesaux—project participants reconstructed one of the oldest trusses that once stood above Notre-Dame using traditional tools and techniques.
The Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project was only the start of the ongoing Handshouse Studio: Notre-Dame Project. Since the original reconstruction workshop in July 2021, Choir Truss #6 has been raised and exhibited across the US, including at Catholic University (DC), the National Mall (DC), the National Building Museum (DC), Millennium Gate Museum (Atlanta, GA), the Great Lakes Woodworking Festival (Adrian, MI), and on the streets of Ann Arbor, MI.
Highlights from the Handshouse Studio: Notre Dame Project’s exhibitions: (Top row, L to R) Catholic University (DC), the National Mall (DC), the National Building Museum (DC). (Bottom row, L to R) Millennium Gate Museum (Atlanta, GA), the Great Lakes Woodworking Festival (Adrian, MI), and the streets of Ann Arbor, MI.
This series of exhibitions earned the attention of the chief Notre-Dame restoration architects, Philippe Villeneuve and Rémi Fromont, who came to Washington, DC in September 2022 to see the Handshouse: Notre-Dame Project in person.
Handshouse Studio: Notre-Dame Project representatives Michael Burrey and Jackson DuBois in discussion with the late General Jean-Louis Georgelin, special representative appointed to oversee the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris.
The project also came to the attention of General Jean-Louis Georgelin and Asselin Inc., one of the French carpentry companies contracted to reconstruct the timber spire of Notre-Dame in Paris. Through Handshouse’s demonstration of educational and collaborative spirit and international diplomacy, the Handshouse: Notre-Dame Project opened up doorways for American traditional carpenters to travel to France to assist in the official reconstruction of the timber roof structure.
As a result of their work on the Handshouse Studio: Notre-Dame Project, Michael Burrey and Jackson Dubois were selected to go to France and assist with the official reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris.
“Having the opportunity to live and work in France, and the camaraderie that developed between the French carpenters and ourselves to produce elements of the spire was deeply emotional. The quatrefoils, trefoils, and dormers we cut and carved are now installed on the spire in Paris!” - Michael Burrey, Preservation Carpenter and Handshouse Studio: Notre Dame Project Representative
Michael Burrey and Jackson DuBois, both vital participants in the Notre-Dame Project full-scale reconstruction of Choir Truss #6 in Washington, DC in 2021, were invited to work as members of the team of professional French carpenters rebuilding Notre-Dame de Paris’s 315-foot timber spire.