Delphi Falls Park is a public park in Madison County, NY. Originally private land with a residence and barn it became a park in August of 2018. Since then, the county has been working on expanding the park and upgrading buildings for better community use.
And that’s where we come in, as our team lead by Timber Frame Champion Jason Houtenbrink, has been on site over the last few weeks raising a timber frame visitors center, breezeway, and bathroom complex.
“The site is the best part of the entire project,” says timber frame engineer Steve Gibbons who worked on the drawings of the frame. “The visitor’s center faces a waterfall, with a view from the inside of the center of the falls and a timber frame porch that allows people to enjoy the falls from a covered area.”
The main timber frame is a roof system, with custom finished Douglas fir queen post trusses and exposed steel that sit atop steel supports with a Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) roof. The blend of timber and exposed steel gives a lightness to the smaller interior space. Externally there is a full timber frame porch, in the same Douglas fir & custom finish, to blend the outside and in. The bathhouse is connected to the main visitor’s center by a timber frame breezeway joining the two buildings together.
“The breezeway ties the two buildings together in this nice way — the continuation of timber elements is really pleasing to experience,” says Gibbons.
Whenever we blend materials on site, it can be an artform. “Some of the timber truss and steel support interactions were tricky, but overall it was a smooth raising. The partners we worked with on-site were really fantastic. The mornings were quiet, and the waterfall was only 100ft away — it was a pretty place to work for sure,” says Houtenbrink.
Having New Energy Works timber frames in public spaces has always been a special thing for our teams—being able to bring friends and family to see our craftsmanship enjoyed by the masses is a heartwarming experience.
“It’s nice to have a project that’s only an hour and a half away. Not only could the team go home every night, but we can come back to enjoy the space when it’s complete,” says Houtenbrink. “I’m looking forward to that.”
Our thanks to the team that made the project possible:
- Client: Delphi Falls Park
- Architect: Beardsley
- Builder: C&S Companies
- Engineer: HSE Specialized Structural Engineering Firm
- New Energy Works Raising Team: Jason Houtenbrink, Mike Gullace, Dylan Schaertl, Chad Smith, and Brandon Suave
