Trail Ridge Timber Frames, Inc.
Germany Tour 2002
Trail Ridge Timber Frames, Inc. Germany Tour 2002 |
Karlsruhe and Rhein Valley
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Even though I was getting delirious at this point from jet lag and not eating the first day, this corner post detail caught my eye. I started wood working as a boy, carving animals, and so I found this very inspiring. Often the date of construction and later dates of remodeling would be inscribed on these posts. We are just now starting to incorporate relief carving in our timber frames, here at Trail Ridge. |
Typically German timber frames have a stucco infill with the timbers revealed and painted. However, this was not always the case. A few hundred years ago the exposed timbers were not fashionable, and were covered by stucco. Now they are back in vogue and as we see all the timbers have been revealed again. The "criss-cross" timbers you see below the lower left window is a style found also in German furniture. Another typically German timber frame feature is to cantilever the floor joists out beyond the lower floor. Subsequently, each floor above would have more square footage than the one below. |
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I
was staggering from jet lag at this point on the first
day (and from all the amazing timber frames I was seeing)
but I found this little timbered house very charming. The
timbers, as you can see, are painted blue instead of the
usual brown. Some of the Guild guys (I won't say who)
were trying to figure out what species of oak produces
blue wood. Can you believe it?! I tried to stay away from
these particular people the rest of the tour. Anyway, few modern timber frames in Germany are "full timber frames." Most of the modern homes being built (and there really is not a lot of new construction) are block walls with timbered roof systems. The look is very clean and minimalistic. They use laminated timbers, hidden metal fasteners, and like to incorporate exposed metal in railings. Very little traditional joinery is used any more and I don't remember seeing one interior knee brace in any frame, new or old. "Now that I think of it there is one very rare species of oak that produces blue wood. It is called Quercus Bluess and grows only on very high Himalayan peaks." At least thats what I told those guys. |
| Here we see a few of the Guild members staring at another timber frame (and probably wondering how those industrious Germans ever harvested oak trees in the Himalaya mountains 500 years ago!) |  |
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Home
at last! - Hotel Loewen. Ending the first day we drove
out of the Rhein Valley and up into the Black Forest,
where, finally at dusk we came to this comforting sight.
After a fine dinner of venison I crawled into bed. The
other members of the tour either roused the local
inhabitants asking if they would mind a look at their
barns or talked late into the night about the
possiblilities of using yaks to carry oak from the
Himalaya region. We stayed the following few days at this inn and I for one, found them very refreshing. I was able to sqeeze in a couple of runs in the black forest. Many of the villages are only a few kilometers apart and most are connected by a series of foot paths that the locals use often to stroll from one village to the other. |