From Concept to Cooking: Part Two

I'll use the Ventura, California brick oven as an example here.  Because the project was across the country from where I live, the conceptual work was limited to discussions of size, location, and materials.

Influences such as actual location, special materials, and additional aesthetic choices were left until the day of my arrival or later.  The project launched immediately following a rough sketch of the proposed oven.  The location was marked out and my helpers arrived to help lug materials up the 35 steps to the work site.

But even as the concrete block base and the poured floor slab were in progress, I began conceptualizing how the roof and face would be designed and executed.  This was to be an oven of arches.  It was intended to combine multiple types of stone and stucco.  And it needed to be artistically cohesive.

Good weather (December) helped.  The brain works well when it is 68F and sunny.

Part three next...