In fact I have to confess that I have never designed a log building except our first assignment at architecture school that was to design a small log sauna in full detail (still sweating after about 35 years). But as most of my work involves old (in the Finnish context)buildings I have to keep up some understanding of traditional building methods. As Gaieus correctly points out, most domestic building here was in logs until the 1940s, and in the earlier days also most public construction too. I am not sure if the Kerimäki church from the mid-1800s is still the largest log building in the world. The kind of log construction using round logs is traditionally not very common here, except in outhouses and temporary buildings. Permanent buildings were made of hewn logs and boarded over. In modern times the "chalet" style has become more popular, first in summer cottages, later it has been the preferred style of the log house prefabricators. Anssi