Construction begins on the Prayer Building
9/18/24
All photos by artist-in-residence Wayne Gudmundson
8/22/2024
Construction of Tusen Takk’s prayer building is underway. This is a building that Peter Bohlin and Geoffrey Peckham designed for Tusen Takk artists to use as a place to go and experience quiet…a retreat of sorts from the making processes they’re involved in across the street. Prayer, meditation, peace of mind—all are expected uses for this place.
The redwood that will be used for the walls and ceiling of the inside of the building are from wood that Geoffrey bought from a local man who had bought it 25 years ago from a man who had salvaged it 70 years ago when the cherry fruit brine tanks built in the early 1900s in Traverse City were torn down in the 1950s. Geoffrey bought another bunch of salvaged redwood from a local man who tore down a 1920s wood silo. When this ancient, oxidized redwood is milled, it seems to give off an aura of age and a spirit of tranquility that is very similar to the feeling you get when you enter a 500-year-old Zen temple in Japan. These temples used old growth cedar for their construction—a very soft wood similar to redwood in that it darkens with age and the structure of its fibers absorb sound (think of being inside a sauna made from cedar and how quiet it is).
Welding begins tomorrow on the prayer building’s frame. The building’s frame is welded onto metal piers that have been drilled 26’ into the ground to provide a solid foundation. This method of construction avoided the need for excavation. That choice, along with building a temporary raised wooden pathway to the site from the road, are steps Geoffrey chose to minimize disturbance of the forest floor during construction. Stay tuned for updates on our progress—as Vaune Trachtman would say, “It’s going to be beautiful!”
