In 2019 Notre-Dame de Paris burned.
In 2021 Handshouse Studio led a team of experts and students in Washington, DC
to reconstruct one of the trusses that once supported the roof of Notre Dame de Paris.
Handshouse reconstructed Truss #6, one of the oldest trusses that once stood above the choir of Notre-Dame de Paris.
The Handshouse Notre Dame Truss reconstruction was made using the official drawings created by the French lead architects Rémi Fromont and Cédric Trentesaux. We followed French protocol passed down from the Middle Ages for timber harvesting, fabricating, assembly, tools, and raising techniques.
We believe collaboration is intrinsic to the effort to revive this iconic edifice and acknowledge the impact the loss of cultural heritage has on people around the world. We brought together a team of traditional timber framers, carpenters, faculty and students from around the US to reconstruct a Notre-Dame de Paris roof truss in a 10-day workshop at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. We believe collaboration is intrinsic to the effort to revive this iconic edifice and acknowledges the impact cultural heritage has to people around the world. It is a statement of solidarity with our fellow traditional craftspeople and an act of goodwill among neighbors.
We are so inspired by the all the incredible organizations that courageously joined this project with us: Charpentiers sans Frontières, The National Building Museum, The Catholic University of America, Historic Preservation Training Center of the National Park Service, The North Bennet Street School, Preservation Maryland, and Maison Luquet Alsace. We are indebted to 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. And we are so grateful to the many generous donors who gave to this ambitious endeavor!
A huge thanks to our project partners, the participants, and the many generous donors who made this project possible!
See the trailer of the documentary film in progress!
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
Filmmakers Rian Brown and Jake Hochendoner follow Handshouse Studios’ group of American timber framers in their efforts to accurately reconstruct a full-scale wooden truss, in an act of global solidarity, to celebrate the repair the roof of Notre Dame of Paris cathedral that burned in 2019.
During the summer of 2021, the film team spent two weeks in Washington D.C. embedded with over 50 carpenters and students while they rebuilt the 7,500 pound Notre Dame’s choir truss #6, using official drawings of the original, and medieval tools. The wood itself was harvested in Virginia in keeping with practices from the 12th century.
For more information and to help support the film/project please go to www.studioorsopolis.com
Collaborating Institutions /
Meet our team / Click Here
The 2021 Reconstruction workshop at The catholic university OF America /
From July 26 to August 4, 2021,The Handshouse Studio Notre Dame de Paris Truss Project workshop took place at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Bringing together a team of traditional carpenters from across the United States and students including groups from Catholic University and the North Bennet Street School, the project team built a full-scale reconstruction of one of the oldest trusses that once stood above the Notre-Dame de Paris choir entirely using traditional hand tools. Upon completion the truss was hand-raised in the shadow of the Basilica of The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Watch more videos on FaceBook and Instagram.
Hand Raising the Truss on The National Mall /
On August 5, 2021, the Handshouse Studio reconstruction of truss #6 of Notre-Dame de Paris was transported to the National Mall, hand-raised for public viewing and exhibited for the day. This raising event was made possible by our collaboration with the National Park Service and Preservation Maryland, and we were joined by members of the Historic Preservation Training Center.
Watch videos on our FaceBook and Instagram.
View the North Bennet Street School Webinar.
The Handshouse Notre Dame de Paris Truss #6 reconstruction displayed on the National Mall as seen from the National Monument.
Exhibition at the National Building Museum /
On August 6, 2021, the Handshouse Studio truss #6 reconstruction was installed in the National Building Museum’s Great Hall in Washington, DC. accompanied by Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project drawings, models, and historic information assembled by project participants and collaborators. The exhibition remained until the end of September.
The Handshouse Notre Dame de Paris Truss #6 reconstruction assembled and ready for lifting for installation in the National Building Museum’s Great Hall.
Exhibition at the Millenium Gate Museum /
We have been honored by the continued interest in the Notre-Dame de Paris Truss project.
The enthusiasm to see the project onward led to an extended open-air exhibition, March 7th-April 25th, of the truss on the back terrace of the Millennium Gate Museum in Atlanta, GA.
April 24th, 2022 Millennium Gate Museum, Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project Exhibition Closing, was 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.
La Forêt Model Project /
La Forêt Model Project workshop at the University of Georgia, October, 2022.
La Forêt Model Project is an 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.
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.
In 2021, the Catholic University of America offered a course, taught by Tonya Ohnstad AIA, NCARB, centered on this effort to explore the architectural history of Notre-Dame through hands-on construction of the Model of La Forêt with a focus on Truss #6. Handshouse Studio continues the project focusing on making a 1:10 scale model white oak model of the Choir.
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.
