Project UPDATE /

Handshouse Studio’s Notre-Dame Project representatives contribute hands-on reconstructing Notre-Dame de Paris in France!

Handshouse Studio is honored to announce that Jackson DuBois and Michael Burrey represented the Handshouse Studio Notre-Dame Project in the official reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris’ iconic timber spire in France! 

This year, as we recognize the 5th anniversary of the tragic fire that damaged Notre-Dame de Paris, we also celebrate the remarkable collaborative effort of its reconstruction. Since 2020, Handshouse Studio has led the Notre-Dame Project, bringing together institutions, historians, architects, craftspeople, and students through a series of  immersive hands-on workshops to explore key features of the cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris. As a result of their work building a full-scale reproduction of Notre-Dame’s Choir Truss #6 in Washington, D.C., in 2021 several timber framers from the Handshouse team were invited to travel to France to assist in the official reconstruction of the timber roof structure. 

Representatives from the project team included Michael Burrey, a traditional carpenter who owns MLB Restorations (Plymouth, MA) and is a faculty member in the Preservation Carpentry program at North Bennet Street School (Boston, MA), which trains students for careers in traditional trades. Also Jackson DuBois, a professional timber framer, who serves as executive director of the international Timber Framers Guild (Alstead, NH), an educational organization focused on teaching the craft of timber framing and building public structures for communities and nonprofit organizations.

In 2023, Burrey and DuBois joined the French carpentry company Asselin, which focuses on the restoration of the finest heritage buildings in France. Working alongside the companies Le Bras Frères, Cruard Charpente et Constructions Bois, and Métiers du Bois, Asselin is rebuilding the 315-foot timber spire of Notre-Dame de Paris, designed by 19th-century restoration architect Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. 

Beyond offering the services of their expert craftsmanship, DuBois and Burrey’s work helped illuminate the historic cathedral’s cultural heritage, offer a gesture of global solidarity among makers, and promote good will among neighbors. DuBois and Burrey acknowledged that they received just as much – if not more – in return.  "It has been an incredible honor to be able to take part in this amazing endeavor,” DuBois said. “The rebuilding of Notre-Dame de Paris is not only a physical restoration but also a symbol of resilience, cultural preservation, and collective efforts to save an iconic landmark. Representing the timber framing community in this work has been an absolute privilege and has come with a deep sense of pride." 

“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,” Burrey said. “The quatrefoils, trefoils, and dormers we cut and carved are now installed on the spire in Paris!”

Burrey and DuBois are just two of nearly 2,000 experts who have participated in the reconstruction of the cathedral; a list commemorating the hands that touched this project was recently inscribed on a scroll and placed inside the rooster installed at the top of the spire. Handshouse Studio Executive Director Marie Brown notes, “Our goal was to create an educational project as a gesture of global solidarity among makers. We are so grateful it has now become an active gift, an act of repair made by tools in the hands of talented craftspeople working with international neighbors”

Official Trailer of the Documentary/ TRUSS: A GIFT FOR NOTRE DAME

Directed by Rian Brown * Co-produced by Jake Hochendoner and Rian Brown * A Studio Orsopolis and Divided Line production

In addition to serving as representatives of their respective organizations (the Timber Framers Guild and the North Bennet Street School, respectively), Dubois and Burrey acted as ambassadors of the Handshouse Studio MAKING/HISTORY Notre-Dame Project. The Notre-Dame Project started in the US in 2020 as an effort to bring Handshouse’s educational mission to the enormous task of recovering the cultural heritage lost in the Notre-Dame de Paris 2019 fire. The Notre-Dame Project is just one of many Handshouse MAKING/HISTORY projects that energize history outside of the traditional classroom through the reconstruction of large historic objects. Through the intensive investigation of a single object, doors open to understanding a wide range of related subjects –subjects that are usually studied independently. By taking a literal three-dimensional view of a historic object –and engaging in an intensive and interactive investigation of  who built the object, how it was built, and why – a richly layered understanding of a moment in history is created.

The Notre-Dame Project’s full-scale reconstruction of Choir Truss #6 gained attention through a series of its exhibitions at Catholic University, the National Mall, the National Building Museum and the Millennium Gate Museum in Atlanta.  earning it the audience of Notre-Dame restoration architects Philippe Villeneuve and Rémi Fromont, who came to Washington, DC in September 2022, in part to see both Choir Truss #6 and the 1:10 scale white oak model of La Forêt built by Handshouse participants. The project also came to the attention of Asselin and its Atlanta-based American subsidiary. Handshouse and Alexis Boutrolle of Asselin have been working together ever since to create this opportunity for American representatives to join Asselin carpenters on the official reconstruction of Notre-Dame’s timber spire – an effort that culminated in Dubois’ and Burrey’s recent trip. 

 “Education has been an essential part of Handshouse’s Notre-Dame Project all along,” said Lindsay Cook, PhD, project historian and architectural history professor at the Pennsylvania State University, “so I can think of no outcome more fitting than to have a dedicated teacher like Michael and an ambassador for the craft like Jackson working alongside such skilled counterparts at Asselin. I trust that students will benefit from the knowledge exchanged during this collaboration for years to come.”

Project Summary/ Handshouse Studio: Notre-Dame Project

It started as a big idea to bring the Handshouse educational mission to reawaken the cultural heritage lost in the Notre-Dame de Paris 2019 fire. Thanks to our incredible community--the Notre-Dame Project has blossomed into another ongoing collaboration exploring key features of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. As a result of this effort, several Notre-Dame Project representatives were invited to participate in the physical reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris in France.

The Handshouse Notre-Dame Project is a hands-on collaborative investigation to illuminate the cultural value of traditional building practices, the genius of the maker, the value of sustainable practices, and the intellect of working by hand. Through our learn-by-doing approach, Handshouse Studio invites participants to closely examine historic artifacts and drawings to remake elements of Notre-Dame cathedral. Handshouse inspires participants to get into the “mind of the maker,” to use the period tools, materials, and processes of the time, to learn about who, why and how it was made. 

We believe collaboration is intrinsic to the effort to revive this iconic edifice and acknowledges the impact the loss of cultural heritage has on people around the world. By bringing together institutions, historians, architects, craftspeople, and students in a series of immersive hands-on workshops we hope to offer a new generation access to this history, personal tactile understanding of the ingenuity and significance of the architecture of Notre-Dame de Paris, and the materials, tools and processes used to build it. We feel that this project offers a deeper understanding of the many ways that culture and meaning are embodied in the objects and technology of cultural icons such as Notre-Dame de Paris, as well as the many recognized and unrecognized artifacts of material culture that surround us today. 

“Our goal was to create an educational project as a gesture of global solidarity among makers. We are so grateful it has now become an active gift, an act of repair made by tools in the hands of talented craftspeople working with international neighbors, leaving marks both on the physical timbers now crowning Notre-Dame cathedral, and on the story of our shared history.”

-Marie Brown, Handshouse Studio Executive Director

HANDSHOUSE PROJECTS ARE made POSSIBLE BY THE SUPPORT OF OUR COMMUNITY!

Your tax deductible donation to the Notre-Dame Project campaign will go 100% to making the project happen!

Handshouse Studio is a 501c(3) non-profit organization.  Donations are tax-deductible. Our tax ID number is 04-3715575.

FOR MORE INFO PLEASE CONTACT:

Marie Brown, Executive Director, Handshouse Studio at marie@handshouse.org

Notre-Dame de Paris Truss ProjecT/

From July 26 to August 4, 2021, The Handshouse Studio Notre Dame de Paris Truss Project brought together a team of traditional carpenters from across the United States to build a full-scale reconstruction of one of the oldest trusses that once stood above the Notre-Dame de Paris. Referencing the hand-drawn survey of the Notre-Dame timber roof structure created by French architects Rémi Fromont and Cédric Trentesaux, and following French protocol passed down from the Middle Ages for timber harvesting, project participants fabricated Notre Dame choir truss #6 using traditional tools and techniques. The Notre-Dame de Paris truss reconstruction was the start of the ongoing Handshouse Studio: Notre-Dame Project.

Upon completion the reconstruction workshop held on Catholic University campus, Choir Truss #6 was hand-raised in the shadow of the Basilica of The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, and has since exhibited on the National Mall (2021, Washington, DC) at the National Building Museum (2021, Washington, DC), at Millennium Gate Museum (2022,Atlanta, GA), at the Catholic University of America (2022, Washington, DC)  and at the Great Lakes Woodworking Festival, (2023, Adrian, MI.) 

A huge thanks to our project partners, the participants, and the many generous donors who made the truss project possible!

The collaborators who courageously joined this project with us: Charpentiers sans Frontières, National Building Museum,The Catholic University of America, Historic Preservation Training Center of the National Park Service, North Bennet Street School, Preservation Maryland, Maison Luquet Alsace and all the talented traditional carpenters, architects, and makers, remarkable students, and intrepid volunteers who came out to work side-by-side, blistering hands in the DC summer sun to help recreate this beautiful piece of cultural heritage together!

La Forêt Model Project/

The La Forêt Model, part of the larger Handshouse Studio: Notre Dame Project, is an on-going effort led by Handshouse Studio to bring together institutions, historians, architects, carpenters, and students for hands-on workshops to explore key features of the Gothic cathedral. 

Handshouse Studio has expanded participation in the Notre-Dame Project through hands-on workshops collaboratively completing a 1:10 scale white oak model of the intricate wooden roof structure that once stood above Notre-Dame de Paris. Made of a dizzying array of mortise and tenon joints, this model of the east end of what is known in French as “La Forêt” (“The Forest”). The intricate wooden roof framework stood above the stone vaults of Notre-Dame de Paris from the 13th century until the roof was destroyed by fire on April 15, 2019. La Forêt Model Project participants have been given exclusive access to both Rémi Fromont and Cédric Trentesaux’s meticulous hand-drawn survey and the remarkable composite laser survey assembled by the Chantier Scientifique (CNRS/MC). These archival references offer windows into history to both understand the original structure that was burned in 2019 and allow participants a way to dive into the mind of the makers who cut those timbers in the 13th century through the act of remaking a model of what was lost by hand.Based on both Rémi Fromont and Cédric Trentesaux’s meticulous hand-drawn survey and the remarkable composite laser survey assembled by the Chantier Scientifique (CNRS/MC), the model of La Forêt, still a work in progress, is among the fruits of the educational non-profit Handshouse Studio’s Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project.

The project has flourished thanks to our participating Institutions: Charpentiers sans Frontières, The Catholic University of America, North Bennet Street School, Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and University of Georgia, Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute, Timber Framers Guild, National Building Museum, Millennium Gate Museum, Chesterwood National Trust, Rémi Fromont and the Chantier Scientifique (CNRS/MC) who generously gave us permission to use their drawings, Lindsay S. Cook, PhD, architectural historian, medievalist, digital humanist, translator, and digital preservation advocate who brings a wealth of experience, expertise and energy to the many questions this project invites, and to all the experts and participants who have come together to help explore this beautiful piece of cultural heritage together hands-on.

Meet Our Team/ Click here to see the growing list of Donors and Participants

Participating INstitutions/

Asselin Inc, Thouars, France

Charpentiers sans Frontières, France 

Historic Preservation Training Center of the National Park Service, Frederick, Maryland

Millenium Gate Museum, Atlanta, GA

National Building Museum, Washington DC

North Bennet Street School, Boston, MA

Penn State University, University Park, PA

Preservation Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland

Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute Adrian, MI

SC Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC

Timber Framers Guild Alstead, NH

The Catholic University of America, Washington DC

University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, Athens, GA

Follow the Project in the Handshouse Journal/

Events So far/

Handshouse Studio has completed a full-scale reconstruction of Truss #6, one of the oldest timber trusses that once supported the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris!

July 25 - August 3, 2021 - With the official drawings created by French lead architects Rémi Fromont and Cédric Trentesaux, of the Notre-Dame de Paris reconstruction process, and using the materials and methods of the original medieval builders, Handshouse brought together a team of traditional timber framers, carpenters, faculty and students from around the US to build Truss #6 in a 10-day workshop at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

August 3, 2021, the truss was hand-raised on Catholic University’s campus in front of the Basilica of The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who eagerly donned a hard-hat to join the pulling lines raising the truss upright, blessed the truss in a public ceremony for the university community.

August 5, 2021, the truss was hand-raised on the National Mall in Washington DC with the help of members of the Historic Preservation Training Center of the National Park Service. It was dismantled and the timbers were walked by timber trolly to the National Building Museum.

August 6, 2021 the truss was raised for a third time to be exhibited in the National Building Museum's Great Hall until Sept 20, 2021.

March 7th, 2022 the truss was raised to be up for an open air exhibition at the Millennium Gate Museum in Atlanta, Ga until April 14th, 2022

March 21-25, 2022 La Forêt Model Project Workshop with the North Bennet Street School, and students from Massachusetts Institute for Technology MA Architecture program, and Gordon College gathered at Handshouse Studio headquarters in Norwell to do a workshop taking on the task of buidling the Notre-Dame de Paris choir trusses starting with the East Apse.

April 1st, 2022 Handshouse Board of Advisors member and Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project historian, Lindsay S. Cook, PhD, Assistant Professor of Art History at Ball State University presented the project as a panelist n Opus Magnum: The Great Restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. This Webinare was co-sponsored by The Humanities Speaker Series and AVISTA (The Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Medieval Technology, Science and Art)

April 6th, 2022 Handshouse Board of Advisors member of La Forêt Model Project Faculty lead, Tonya Ohnstad, AIA, NCARB, MNAL, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Planning; The Catholic University of America, presented her and her students work on The Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project to Traditional Building Conference Series in Alexandria, VA.

April 14th, 2022 The Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project was presented in by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts of the University of Georgia in a webinar panel with Lindsay S. Cook, PhD, Assistant Professor of Art History at Ball State University; Tonya Ohnstad, AIA, NCARB, MNAL, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Planning, The Catholic University of America; Traditional Carpenter Gerald David of GFD Woodworking, and Rick Brown of Handshouse Studio. View the recording of this event here

April 24th, 2022 Millennium Gate Museum, Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project Exhibition Closing: A Day of Demonstrations and Presentations. We offered participants hands-on demonstrations and visual presentations of Notre-Dame de Paris's wooden roof structure, its history, and how it was made to the community of greater Atlanta.

May 6th - August 23, 2022 The North Bennet Street School, Exhibition 2022: Making Matters/ The Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project: Model of  “La Forêt” apse on display in Boston, MA .  The 1:10 scale model of the Eastern end of the Notre-Dame de Paris roof structure called the Apse, is a work-in-progress being built as part of The Notre Dame de Paris Truss Project   North Bennet Street School Preservation Carpentry students have been central to making  this  “La Forêt” apse model.

August 24th-28th, 2022 The Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project : Model of “La Forêt” continues at Handshouse Studio headquarters in Norwell with a workshop to make a 1:10 scale model the Notre-Dame de Paris apse roof structure from the choir.

September 24th – 26th, 2022  HAND-RAISING AND RIGGING PRACTICUM: a 3-day workshop to practice the historic rigging process used by timber framers to safely lift heavy loads by hand. Led by Civil Engineer, Grigg Mullen Jr., this involved assembling, rigging, hand-raising, and temporarily securing a 8100 lb. white oak roof truss; the full-scale reconstruction of the historic reconstruction of a Notre-Dame roof truss Handshouse Studio participants cut in summer 2021 as part of The Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project.

September 26th: Public Events in Washington, DC

Notre-Dame Replica Truss Hand-Raising Demonstration on the University Mall at The Catholic University of America. Handshouse Studio’s Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project 8100-pound white oak truss replica was hand-raised at 9:30am, followed by remarks from Handshouse Studio and Catholic University of America representatives.

Panel Discussion in Koubek Auditorium in the Crough Center for Architectural Studies at The Catholic University of America. Handshouse Studio’s Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project participants discussed the practice of restoration and the transmission of cultural heritage.

11Exhibition of La Forêt Model Project. Miller Exhibition Space in the Crough Center for Architectural Studies at The Catholic University of America. On view alongside the exhibition (re)CONSTRUCTION: The Joinery and Craft of Notre-Dame de Paris Part II - Humble Elements, researched and modeled by CUA School of Architecture students in collaboration with Handshouse Studio and Dr. Lindsay Cook, was a 1:10 scale model of part of the Notre-Dame roof framework based on both Rémi Fromont and Cédric Trentesaux’s hand-drawn survey and the composite laser survey assembled by the Chantier scientifique Notre-Dame de Paris (CNRS/MC). La Forêt Model Project, part of the Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project, is an ongoing effort led by Handshouse Studio to bring together institutions, historians, architects, carpenters, and students for hands-on workshops to explore key features of the Gothic cathedral.

Lecture by Philippe Villeneuve and Rémi Fromont, Chief Architects of Historic Monuments and restoration architects of Notre-Dame de Paris. National Building Museum (401 F Street, Washington, DC 20001). What does it take to rebuild one of the most visited, recognizable, and semantically loaded works of architecture in the world? Presented in partnership with the Catholic University of America, Philippe Villeneuve, Chief Architect of Historic Monuments in charge of Notre-Dame de Paris, and Rémi Fromont, Chief Architect of Historic Monuments, delivered their first public lecture in the United States since taking on the extraordinary task to stabilize and restore the cathedral of Paris in the aftermath of the catastrophic 2019 fire. Lindsay Cook, Assistant Teaching Professor of Architectural History at the Pennsylvania State University and translator of the book Notre Dame Cathedral: Nine Centuries of History, translated the lecture from French into English and moderate the discussion following the talk.

September 28-October 4th: Notre-Dame de Paris: La Forêt Model Project Workshop: The University of Georgia Athens, GA

October 4, 2022: Presentation and Exhibition at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Presentation: The Notre Dame de Paris Truss Project by Handshouse Studio co-founders Rick Brown and Laura Brown and Executive Director Marie Brown Exhibition: La Forêt Model: Work in Progress, 1:10 scale model of the Notre-Dame de Paris roof framework, white oak, 2022

October 15th, 2022: Timber Framers Guild Conference, Burlington, VT

Presentation: Co-founders, Rick and Laura Brown shared stories of Handshouse project history that led to the Notre Dame de Paris Truss Project in Washington DC 2021. Executive Director, Marie Brown, will explore What Makes a Handshouse Project, and how our unconventional approach is guiding the organization into another generation.

Exhibition: work-in-progress 10 : 1 white oak model Handshouse Studio participants is building as part of La Forêt Model Project. This hands-on illustration is being made of the complex timber roof structure that once stood above the Notre-Dame de Paris choir is based on both Rémi Fromont and Cédric Trentesaux’s meticulous hand-drawn survey and the remarkable composite laser survey assembled by the Chantier scientifique (CNRS/MC).

June 12th-18th, 2023: Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute, Adrian, MI.

5-day workshop to continue the 1:10 scale white-oak model we have been recreating of one of the oldest sections of Notre Dame de Paris timber roof.

2-Day Notre-Dame Truss Reassembly Workshop: Handshouse Studio’s Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project 8100-pound white oak truss reconstruction was reassembled for exhibition.

Hand-Raising Demonstration and Exhibition: The Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project 8100-pound white oak truss replica was be hand-raised at as part of the Great Lakes Woodworking Festival.

May - July 2023: Notre Dame Project Representatives work for Asselin, Thouars, France

Rebuilding the Spire of Notre-Dame de Paris: Jackson DuBois and Michael Burrey represented the Handshouse Studio Notre-Dame Project in the official reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris’ iconic timber spire in France! 

August 21-26th: The Notre-Dame Rooster Project: Chesterwood National Trust, Stockbridge, MA

5-day workshop Metalsmith Joe Wood, and Sculture Chuck Stigliano took part in a 5 day intensive residency at Chesterwood National Trust workshop exploring the traditional processes used in making the copper rooster that once stood at the top of Notre-Dame de Paris spire. t

October 12th, 2023: Timber Framers Guild Conference, Keystone, CO

Presentation: Executive Director, Marie Brown shared how Handshouse work led to the development of the Notre-Dame Project, and the meaning and importance of the collaborative “act of repair.” Handshouse Notre Dame Project representative and Timber Framers Guild' Executive Director Jackson DuBois shared his experience working side-by-side with traditional French carpenters reconstructing Notre-Dame de Paris’s 315ft wooden spire.

December 16th, 2023: Named in History, Notre-Dame de Paris, Paris, France

Named in History! Michael Burrey and Jackson DuBois, Notre-Dame Project representatives who helped reconstruct the spire, are listed among the names of craftspeople honored for their contributions to the reconstruction of Notre Dame de Paris! Nearly 2000 individuals have been recognized; the story of a remarkable collaboration preserved inside the belly of the Philippe Villenevue’s golden phoenix now overlooking Paris from atop Notre-Dame’s new spire.

February 5- 9th 2024: Notre-Dame de Paris: La Forêt Model Project Workshop at University of Georgia Lamar Dodd School of Art in Athens, GA continuing the 1:10 scale white-oak model we have been recreating one of the oldest sections of Notre Dame de Paris timber roof. This workshop brought hands-on workshop experience to over 200 University of Georgia students.

February 9th, 2024, 2-4pm: “The Gift of Repair'' A Panel Presentation and Exhibition at the Delta Innovation Hub, University of Georgia, Athens, GA. Five project representatives share how the meaning and importance of the collaborative “act of repair,” led to Handshouse sending Notre Dame Project representatives to work side-by-side with traditional French carpenters reconstructing Notre-Dame de Paris’s 315ft wooden spire in France.

Project in the Media/

Project Logo/

All references to the above project, including, without limitation, in articles, press releases and other promotional materials, website content, classes, lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and media presentations (remote or in person), shall include the “Handshouse Studio: Notre-Dame Project” (and, where possible, the following project logo.

Handshouse Projects are made possible by the support of our community!

Your tax deductible donation to the Notre-Dame Project campaign will go 100% to making the project happen!

Handshouse Studio is a 501c(3) non-profit organization.  Donations are tax-deductible. Our tax ID number is 04-3715575.

For More info Please Contact:

Marie Brown, Executive Director, Handshouse Studio at marie@handshouse.org