Colorado Timberframe has recently supplied sewn lumber to the world’s largest freestanding timberframe structure: for the “Ark Encounter” exhibit in Williamstown, Kentucky. The size of this boat is staggering: it used 3.1 million board feet of timber, with 1/3rd of it being pine-beetle reclaimed Englemann spruce. The volume of the Ark is equivalent to 500 semi-trailers, it has the capacity for 10,000 visitors and has a museum and 1,600 capacity restaurant on the top deck. The project cost over $100 million dollars and took a year and a half to build.
The workload was so intense that Colorado Timberframe had to hire additional staff, add a third shift, and go six days a week for a year. In addition, a personal sawmill had to be brought on site as 50% of the lumber required eventual resizing. More than 1 million visitors are expected the first year.
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