Arbor Project Outside Admin Building

Unseasonably mild autumn weather allowed Alfred State College Building Trades students to complete work on "the arbor project," a beautification initiative located next to the Administration Building on the School of Applied Technology campus in Wellsville.

The arbor was designed by Mossien Associates, the architectural firm who did the campus master plan, with details inspired by Japanese design elements, most notably the crosspieces and brackets which support the main beams. The two long side beams are made up from three timbers joined end-to-end with a joint called a lightning-bolt scarf [because of its zigzag shape], the cross beams from two timbers. The timbers are of larch wood obtained from a local Amish sawmill.

This project has been worked on by several groups of students-including students in the Timber Frame Club and in the advanced framing class, and finished by students in the remodeling class-over a two-year span, under the direction of Leon Buckwalter, instructor, Building Trades Department, using historical preservation methods.