"Hardwood" is a common term used to describe deciduous trees, meaning broad leafed trees that drop their leaves in the autumn. Hardwood trees are distinguished from softwood trees, which are also known as coniferous or evergreen, and characterized by needles rather than leaves, which remain on the tree throughout the winter. In general, hardwoods produce a fruit or a nut, while softwoods produce a cone.
Some of the more common North American hardwood species include birch, oak, maple, cherry, walnut, beech, hickory, poplar and basswood. These trees are used for many different purposes, from fine cabinetry to firewood. In general, hardwood makes much better firewood than softwood; due to its density and weight, it creates much more heat per cubic foot than does softwood.
http://www.ehow.com/list_7318852_types-trees-hardwood_.html
http://www.hardwoodinfo.com/articles/view/pro/24/267
Proposed tree types for tree farm:
1. Ash
Where is grows: Throughout the Eastern U.S. White ash trees range in height from 80 to 120 feet with diameter from 2 to 5 feet and a width of 50 to 90 feet.
Main Uses: Furniture, flooring, doors, architectural millwork and moulding, kitchen cabinets, paneling, tool handles, baseball bats, hockey sticks, skis, oars and turnings.
Abundance: 4.6 percent of total U.S. hardwoods commercially available
Description: The sapwood is light-colored to nearly white and the heartwood varies from greyish or light brown, to pale yellow streaked with brown. The wood is generally straight-grained with a coarse uniform texture. The degree and availability of light-colored sapwood, and other properties, will vary according to the growing regions..
Properties: Ash machines well, is good in nailing, screwing and gluing, and can be stained to a very good finish. It dries fairly easily with minimal degrade, and there is little movement in performance.
Ash has very good overall strength properties relative to its weight. It has excellent shock resistance and is good for steam bending.
Availability: Readily availability.
2. Black Cherry
Where is Grows: Eastern U.S., principally Northern and Lake states. The average tree is 60 to 70 feet in height and 35 to 50 feet wide.
Main Uses: Fine furniture and cabinet making, mouldings and millwork, kitchen cabinets, paneling, flooring, doors, boat interiors, musical instruments, turnings and carvings.
Abundance: 3.9 percent of total U.S. hardwoods commercially available.
Description: The heartwood of cherry varies from rich red to reddish brown and will darken with age and on exposure to light. In contrast, the sapwood is creamy white. The wood has a fine uniform, straight grain, satiny, smooth texture, and may naturally contain brown pith flecks and small gum pockets.
Properties: Cherry is easy to machine, nails and glues well and when sanded and stained, it produces an excellent smooth finish. It dries fairly quickly with moderately high shrinkage, but is dimensionally stable after kiln-drying.
The wood is of medium density with good bending properties, it has low stiffness and medium strength and shock resistance.
Availability: Readily available.
Both types will be planted 40 feet apart intermixed across the acreage of the tree farm. The tree farm will blend into the residential zone creating a blurred boundary between the farm and the residential zone.
The projected height of 60-120 feet for the trees on the farm will provide a clear difference in scale between the tree farm and the residential development once the trees have reached maturity.
The concept of using the old roadways as guidance was explored- below is a diagram of a possible layout using the first iteration of the prototype.
Next, views from the interiors of the units were considered as these will inform the directional layout of the prototypes.
Next simple stacking section diagrams are explored to experiment with different spaces that can be created from the simple shape of a cross-section of a shipping container.
No comments:
Post a Comment