piece sur piece construction

pièce sur pièce construction

In the French Vernacular architecture of Louisiana, primarily in the 18th century, a method of building small houses of well-finished, heavy rectangular-hewn timbers. Each timber, laid horizontally, had a dovetail notch at both ends, forming a strong interlocking rigid joint with another appropriately notched timber at right angles to it.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.