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The floor plan takes shape

Design FAQs

We've had many questions about the building over the years since this website began - our faq section details the main questions with our responses.



Frequently Asked Questions concerning the Design

How did you arrive at the final design and what influence does it have on the "feel" of the building?

The design “came to me” when I set out to draw a floor plan for a building which would serve as a living space for my wife and I as well as a healing space for natural therapies and especially our residential Mindvision workshop.

I “worked” on the design for 4 years (off and on (-;) but couldn't change it in any significant regard without detracting from its effectiveness.

When we came to the piece of land on which it is rising, the energetics (aka earth energies) clearly indicated this was a sacred site. Once again I tried to influence the design to accommodate the prevailing geographic features and orientation - again to no avail.

The area available was smaller than I would have preferred, however the design proved so versatile that we were able to shrink it down to fit the available pad size (about 14 metres).

So, for me, the design was and is something “predestined” if you like and not readily changeable in anything other than scale. I believe it does have good 'Feng Shui' but I would not claim that was a foremost consideration in the original design, although it was a significant influence over some choices during construction. The main guidance for the design was what I thought would work with harmony and balance.

Personally I feel the octagon is one of the best shapes for containing and enriching energies as humans experience them.

Everyone who visits does feel something extraordinary - usually described as friendliness, warmth or profound peace. This is no doubt due to both the people-friendly materials, the non-boxlike design and the powerful earth energies coursing through ley lines which intersect in the main room.

Where did you get the design?

I first saw the roof structure in a photo of the meditation hall at Findhorn. I fell immediately in love with it as it had the 2 qualities I wanted:

      1. a central light-admitting opening
      2. absence of supporting poles, pillars or massive metal brackets

What are the main advantages of the roof?

For me they are:-

  • plenty of visual movement - its a challenge to keep one's focus fixed on one spot from inside - the gaze and awareness is constantly drawn inward and upward - an agreeable direction for me.
  • freedom from lateral thrust at the supporting rim - the walls needed no buttressing or lateral supports (although with the octagonal plan this may be a moot point).
  • Uniform load distribution: once the rafters lock together, the structure is a unified thing and any load anywhere is immediately distributed evenly throughout the main beams with the resulting force acting uniformly vertically on the supports. (Ours sits on the top of 5"X2" vertical members which have precious little bracing)
  • low wind resistance - since the roof is not flat - it has a stepped surface the wind can't get a purchase on it and I think it is more resistant to uplift than a planar roof of the same surface area. (Although I have nothing other than my own “hunch” to go on there).


Where else has this roof been used?

The structure is popular in Findhorn - I can no longer find any images or references on their website but you may have more luck. As for details guidance etc - I haven't see anything anywhere. I do know there was someone offering detailed plans for cutting beams and housings there but he didn't ever reply to my correspondence and I no longer have the address I used. If you google “Reciprocal Rafter Roof” you should find what is currently available on the net.

How did you start out with the roof structure?

I had an engineer draw a suitable structure and plunged in. We elected to go for sloped bearing surfaces so that the beams could be slid along their main axis during installation for “fine adjustments”. They are laminated seasoned Australian hardwoods -rated F27 - and are as hard a timber as I have ever worked with - including teak. This meant that each member was quite capable of sliding 'out', and there was precious little friction at the bearing surface.

The beams sat is space, locked together, without any fixings for 3 days! Its was real joy to see them do that and I regard that as a testament to the robustness and strength of the reciprocal rafter roof design.

Was this reciprocal force rafter structure over the whole house or just the central room?

A: Just over the central room (6m ~20' wall to wall)

How does the roof actually work?

The roof is a different head-space to conventional rafters which are supported top and bottom, the beams are only supported at the bottom and rely on the 'interweaving' to secure the top. The harder gravity works the stronger the roof becomes. The roof works with gravity rather than resisting it which is what passes for 'conventional wisdom'.

Why did you choose an octagon shape?

The octagonal shape is, to me, the strongest for a dwelling, or any structure really, circular is too difficult to furnish and accommodate straight lines. Rectangular is very energy-blocking in my opinion, there is no encouragement for energy to circulate over the wall surfaces - whenever it reaches a corner it is stopped dead..

I suppose what I regard as sacred mathematics may have contributed - 2 raised to the power of 3 - but, in truth, I feel the design was largely “channeled”.

I drew it one night as a design for a home in which to run residential workshops called MindVision, 9 years later and countless 'redesign' attempts we started building, the original design was the same as I drew that first night. It had successfully resisted all my attempts to “improve it”. In the end the only major difference was a slight reworking of the front to make a better breeze-scoop and simple scaling to fit the available area.

And yes - the roof is remarkably similar with the octagonal opening in the centre - I was averse to a large and weighty metal structure overhead - 'The Sword of Damocles' kept running through my mind - a photo of Findhorn's Meditation hall provided the perfect solution for us.

Could you tell me the dimensions of the roof you built: diameter, center opening diameter, beam depth, pitch, and anything else you think i might want to know?

Roof Diameter - 6m, centre opening 1.5m, roof pitch 25degrees, beam depth 225mm.

My best and only advice really is to get some 1/4" X 3/4" sticks and build a model, you will learn far more with that than by any thing I could tell you. You'll need to cut some housings to make bearing surfaces, glue some sandpaper on one of the faces to improve the friction and it should be strong enough for you to stand on without slipping.

How did you design the hole in the middle?

The centre opening size is determined by 2 factors: the depth of the beams and the pitch of the roof.

If you keep the same beam size then as the pitch increases the diameter of the opening reduces. If you keep the same pitch then as the beam depth increases the diameter of the opening increases.

I don't know a formula I just nutted it out with trigonometry by working out the dimensions of the portion of the beam at the top end which went from under one neighbour to over the other.

Anyway I hope that helps somewhat, hope you have a lot of fun with the process as it's a real buzz when the beams stand there without support.

Is this roof different to a conventional rafter and purlin construction?

Yes the roof is a different head-space to conventional rafters which are supported top and bottom, the beams are only supported at the bottom and rely on the 'interweaving' to secure the top. The harder gravity works the stronger the roof becomes. The roof works with gravity rather than resisting it which is what passes for 'conventional wisdom'.


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