Octagonal house: more space - less heating costs

A Finnish entrepreneur, John Ujanen, applied the paradoxes of octagonal geometry and built a super-efficient octagonal house from aspen timbers.

Who among us doesn't dream of having a holiday home, a summer house in the country, a hunting hut or a winter sports cabin? It's so wonderful to come home from skiing and sit by a fire in the hearth! This is the place to go to escape the daily routine and spend time in pleasant relaxation.

It's surprising how thoughts about recreation make us work even harder! Once, a man stepped out of his dream and started building his dream house.

John Ujanen also had a dream. But unlike those who would be perfectly content with a house with four walls and a roof, he wanted something more: an octagonal house made of plop shaking.

The Octagon

The idea of the octagonal format is not new: we can see examples of octagonal churches and temples, not only in Europe, but also in Asia, where the figure 8 is associated with the endless, i.e. immortality.

However, the real popularity of the octagonal format for American dwelling houses came in the mid-19th century. It is linked to the name of Orson Fowler, a scientist and lecturer, who built such a house for his family and named it the Octagon, then wrote a book, "The Octagon House: A House for All or a New, Cheap, Convenient and Superior Way of Building". The book was first printed in 1848 and over the next half century octagonal design became fashionable, and not just aesthetically.

As you can see from the picture, compared to a square, the octagon encloses approximately 20% more space with the same perimeter. This means that in the same square metres of wall, a house of this type contains more living space and requires less heating per square metre. Fowler calculated that an octagonal house is cheaper to build, allows extra living space, gets more natural light, is easier to heat and stays cool in summer. All these benefits derive from the geometry of the octagon: the shape effectively encloses the space, minimising the area of external surfaces and therefore heat loss. The octagon comes closest to a circle, which is in fact the most efficient shape, but it is difficult to construct and it is hard to find suitable furniture for the inside of a sphere...

"In the beginning it was only the octagonal dream"

Well, John Ujanen dreamed and dreamed ... and then built what he wanted. His octagonal holiday cottage, about 120 square metres in size, sits in the centre of a small island on a beautiful lake that he owns along with the surrounding land. The house may not necessarily be very tall, but even so, its unique location and grand presence make it seem like a lighthouse or watchtower, controlling the nearby sea in all directions.

The house is built of aspen half-timbering. This style of construction is very popular in Finland. The logs are cut into half logs and the gussets are made from 'Norwegian knots'. The half-timbered house appears so strong and so pretty that it doesn't need exterior panelling.

Usually half-timbers are made from Nordic pine, but John decided to make them from his own aspen logs, an excellent wood, light yellow with a greenish tinge, a reliable wood that is dense, crack-free and easy to work.

The only important rule is that half-rounds must have ideally flat and geometrically accurate cut surfaces.

How to get the ideal half-grain

Being a genuine perfectionist in all things technical, keen to get everything just right - exactly right, not almost right - John wanted a special saw that would help him get the best possible finish on his grand aspen logs, and the Wood-Mizer LT15 gave him just that: it gave him the flawless finish he wanted - thanks to the bandsaw's precision blades and excellent handling.

But all this turned out to be just an overture. A few years later, there was a very determined knock on the door of the Wood-Mizer representative in Finland. As the door opened, Mr. Ujanen appeared in the doorway with a peculiar twinkle in his eye.

"I'd like to buy one" said John, "one of these saws of yours, the same kind of ribbon saw I used on those poplar logs for my cottage". Typical John, a man who doesn't waste much time talking.

"Okay, then, very good!" replied the Wood-Mizer rep, who was probably closing the fastest sale of his life. "What are you going to do, my friend?"

"I plan to build a bigger house, much bigger in fact, to be my permanent residence. And this house will also be octagonal and still made of massive aspen logs. So the best possible precision and excellent finish are absolutely essential to the success of the project."

And so John, a man used to making his dreams a reality (at least most of them), is about to complete his house project as we speak. What John's "Villa Aspen" looks like, you can see in the photos - not the most common home design you'd see, is it?

"Well, how did you like LT15 this time, John? Happy with the results?"

"Perfectly satisfied, I'm happy to say. Very often you have to be prepared to give in and accept some compromises - one thing may be ok, another - not as good. So you have to settle for a kind of relative balance. But not LT15. The ribbon saw has proven to be a very well-balanced combination of lightness, speed, accuracy and safe handling, all of which make it a very reliable tool for achieving the results and standards you want, for the exceptional finish you want. Any builder, I think, would think very highly of such competence and performance."

Adapted after Martti Kirsitie

More success stories and business ideas related to timber production can be found at 
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