Page 45 - Studio International - May 1969

the Merzbarn. In May 1965 the wall was liminary survey. 7 This steel framework, which has two lift-
thoroughly surveyed by Mark Lancaster, 2 The wall is shored up inside and out, all ing eyes welded into the top of it, was shut-
David Wise and myself, under the supervision the points of contact being insulated against tered and filled with concrete. The size of the
of Richard Hamilton, then on the staff at vibration with two inches of expanded poly- piece of wall we took was about twelve feet by
Newcastle. John Laing Limited of Carlisle styrene. I spent much of my time sitting on nine.
were the contractors and they moved in on the shoring with my finger on the face of the 8 Next a gantry was put up over the site,
July 12, 1965. I went too, as a representative plaster, feeling for tremors. carrying an enormous lifting gear. All this
of the Department, my job being to pick up 3 Joe Barlow working on the outside. The steelwork had to be manhandled up the track
the pieces if the worst happened. inner wall was exposed in sections about two to the site and put up with a pole and a block
The Merzbarn is made of plaster applied feet square at a time. The stones were grouted and tackle. The weather was wet and got
directly to a rough drystone wall, and rein- with a strong mortar and then left to set while wetter as the critical part of the job ap-
forced with sticks, canes, string and the like. work continued on another part of the wall. proached.
It could not be taken to pieces and re- 4 A course of `throughs' supported by wire 9 All set to go. Through the window is one
assembled in its new home, it had to be taken and wooden props while the grouting set. At of Schwitters' collection of oddly-shaped stones.
in a piece. The system which Laings proposed the bottom of the picture is one of the boulders 10 On September 22 the Merzbarn began
was to embed in concrete the backs of the which formed the foundations of the barn. to move. The weight of the wall was taken
stones which carry the plasterwork, in order These went too deep into the ground to be on the lifting tackle which was then run back-
to make the whole thing secure so that it moved and to clear them the wall had to be wards along the gantry, tipping the wall and
could be moved safely. This plan was com- cut 14 inches above floor level. lowering it into a horizontal position.
The foot of the wall was wedged to pre-
plicated by the double structure of the wall. 5 The back of the wall with the first stage 11
Like all the walls in that district it was in fact well advanced. In the centre is one of the vent its slipping forwards. In this picture one
two walls side by side with a rubble filling invaluable Acrow expanding props. These can see how much of the work was lost be-
between and occasional courses of `throughs', could be easily moved around to apply sup- cause of the boulders. Also notice how near to
broad stones laid across the two walls tying port to the wall as the work progressed. In the the face of the wall are the uprights of the
the whole structure together. The outer wall foreground is the heap of stone taken from the gantry. It was an extremely difficult job to
had to be removed to reach the back of the wall. handle these huge weights so close to the fra-
inner wall. The pictures explain the process 6 Some of the `throughs' coincided with the gile plaster.
better than words. steel frame which was put up behind the wall 12 Safely down, the wall is being sheeted up
The scene of operations. The barn in Mr
1 and had to be cut. We used an impregnated against the rain. Subsequently Pickfords' men
Pierce's garden with the Langdale Pikes in fibre saw, which makes less vibration than a arrived to transport the wall to Newcastle.
the background. The work itself is on the far toothed saw, but nonetheless this was an 13 Pickfords used hydraulic jacks (that is
wall opposite the door. The bank behind it anxious time, since the plaster of the relief was one in the left foreground), rollers, a winch
has been excavated in the contractors' pre- applied directly to the other end of this stone. and six men to move the sixteen-ton mass. A