Master builder Paul Discoe founder of Joinery Structures in 1988 is an ordained Zen Buddhist priest and is a Japanese-trained specialist in traditional temple construction. He designed and built many of the San Francisco Zen Center buildings and homes. Before founding Joinery Structures, he completed a five year stint as a joinery carpenter studying Buddhist temple design and construction in Japan. His original company Joinery Structures now run by his stepson, Michael Coonen our host for the evening.
Michael recently completed an extensive home and garden complex in Woodside, California for Oracle founder Larry Ellison. Joinery Structures' design assistance starts with the visualization and siting of client's projects. Once under construction, a Joinery Structures toriyo (master builder) guides the selection of the unprocessed materials most appropriate for the job and then supervises each detailed step through to final completion.

Part of Joinery Structures' practice is to salvage wood and make it into useful objects. They also process lumber from trees grown in the San Francisco metropolitan area. Typically, the wood from these "street trees" has unique characteristics not found in forest trees. The inventory of street tree wood includes lumber from: Paulownia - Black Acacia - Monterrey Cypress - Elm. Street tree wood is incorporated into a variety of building products such as flooring, cabinetry, doors, windows and garden structures. A side benefit of using street trees in this manner is that it often saves them from being taken to landfill.

Paul Discoe started a company called Live Edge in 2006 located at Joinery Structures to construct, design and build prefab structures out of wood salvaged locally from the urban forest and from other sustainable materials. Kit structures can be as small as 100 square feet or as large as a three-bedroom home.

It should be a fascinating meeting.

"Ask the Membership about a problem" session. Perhaps, a Tool and Tech and Library talks.

Meeting Location

DRIVING DIRECTIONS

From the West Bay: Take the Bay Bridge and take the West Grand Ave exit. Turn left onto Mandela Pkwy. Turn a slight right onto Peralta St. Sharp right onto Kirkham St.

From The South Bay: Take I-880 and exit at Market St (toward Harbor Terminal). Turn right onto Market St. Left onto 7th St. Right onto Mandela Pkwy. Slight right onto Peralta St.. Sharp right onto Kirkham St.

From the North Bay: Take I-880. Take the West Grand Ave (towards 7th St.) Take a left onto W. Grand Ave. Left onto Mandela Pkwy. Slight right onto Peralta St. Sharp right onto Kirkham St.