What do pizza boxes, a canceled wedding, and a community hand raising have in common? This backyard pavilion in Oregon.
For homeowners Matt & Laura, 2020 was rough. Both work in the front-line medical industry and their dream wedding was looking less and less likely to ever happen. The couple decided that they would turn tradition around, forgoing a traditional one-time wedding ceremony and instead spending what would have been their wedding fund on an outdoor timber frame pavilion they could enjoy with their friends and family for many years to come.
At first, they used empty pizza boxes laid out on the ground to envision their ideas for the space, eventually deciding on a layout for their timber pavilion that included an outdoor pizza oven and Argentine grill, among other amenities.
“After the whole pizza boxes on the ground thing, my husband started talking about a timber frame structure being a possibility, because he is really into woodworking,” Laura told us. “From there we kind stumbled upon New Energy Works through a connection with one of our neighbors.”
When it came time to hand raise the timber frame, they emailed thirty or so friends and neighbors who all came out to help. The result is a dynamic communal space right in their own back yard.
“The backstory of the idea to do a community raising for this project is that Matt built a pizza oven at an apartment complex that we lived in that had a community back yard, so for a good year before we bought our home, we had hosted parties and events in that space around that oven,” Laura explained. “So, when it came to having a community raising for our timber fame pavilion, we had this incredible community of people we could call. We sent a quick email, and everyone was super into helping, which was so cool.”
“We really wanted to create a community space in our own backyard,” the couple surmised. “All of our neighbors pitched in at different points, whether it was on raising day, or the neighbor who fabricated the grill that is part of the outdoor kitchen, even some of the contractors that came through the project are now lifelong friends of ours. Long term we see this pavilion being a space to gather and form those social bonds.”
Project Credits:
Architect: New Energy Works
Builder: New Energy Works
Photos: Noel Adams (Rasing Day), Chris Murray (Final Photos)
Shou Sugi Ban Siding Accents: Pioneer Millworks
Read more about the community Raising Day:
A Community Raising in North Portland | New Energy Works
