Natural light
Every time I read about a window in a shop, I remember the best shop I ever had. It was a building of my own construction and was a simple,…
Every time I read about a window in a shop, I remember the best shop I ever had.
It was a building of my own construction and was a simple, one-room building with a sloped shed roof. The back wall, which faced north, was six and a half feet high but the south facing front wall rose to almost 12 feet. It was almost all glass. the view was spectacular being that the shop was on a hilltop from which you could see five mountain ranges.
The result of all that glass was that it was like working outside. The natural light that filled the workspace allowed me to clearly see any sanding imperfections and I never had to worry about how a color match really looked. And, as an added bonus, I never hand to worry about lighting when I needed to take a picture of something.
Later I moved into a commercial space in a concrete tilt up style building with no windows and fluorescent lighting. It did have a big roll up door so some daylight was able to penetrate. But it was still cave like compared to my previous sunlit workspace.
I keep telling myself that one of these days I'll build another shop like that.
D.D.
David DeCristoforo possesses an extensive resume as designer/maker of fine furniture, high-end cabinetry and architectural woodwork. His experience in professional woodworking spans a period of 35 years. For the past 20 years David DeCristoforo Design has been located in Woodland, California. During this time David's shop has ranged in scope from a "full on" cabinet production shop with as many as 15 employees to a small fine furniture and custom millwork shop, working with his son, David RBJ, a highly skilled maker in his own right.