Description

In view of recent initiatives to build skyscrapers made of wood around the world and intensive research into improving wood’s material properties for building, Haus Lindetal seems like something of a throwback to times past. Once again, however, craftsmanship offers an answer for contemporary building.

Until the 1980s, the property in the gently rolling moraine landscape of the Stargarder Land was home to a listed but derelict house with a veranda. At first, the owner wanted to build a house made of rammed earth, but neither the right material nor the relevant skills were available in the sparsely-populated region, which in general has very few specialist contractors. AFF Architekten from Berlin therefore examined ways in which to set up a small building site without bringing in material from afar.

The solution came with the involvement of the architect Stephan Hahn, who is also a carpenter and primarily works on existing buildings. He had previously rebuilt a hall house in Lower Saxony, not far from the former border near Lübeck, that had been used as a pig farm and was in a state of disrepair. In converting it into a house, he developed a passion for the quality and permanence of wood joints.

The house stands on a monolithic concrete floor slab which was cast in situ along with a central longitudinal wall with a stair at each end. After this initial step, Stephan Hahn and two colleagues set up shop on site and began building the timber frame structure in the traditional manner, measuring, cutting, working and painstakingly fitting together the timber members on site. The process from delivery of the lumber from two local sawmills to the topping-out ceremony took seven weeks.

In contrast to half-timbered structures, which are composed of wall sections, the timber structure is more akin to a skeleton frame. On top of an oak sole plate around the perimeter of the foundation slab, four main transverse frames were erected, whose bracing headbands have been left visible in the living room. The timber frame was erected using only halved, tenon and timber nail joints. Additional machinery such as a chain mortise and milling machine which can hollow out exact tap holes obviated the need to manually and laboriously fashion joints with a chisel. The trained eye of the carpenter is nevertheless indispensable, because unlike plywood, which can be used universally, grown wood contains sapwood and knotholes. Douglas fir was used for the construction due to its high resin content, which, like larch, is naturally durable (fulfilling the required class 3) and can be used without requiring additional impregnation against insects or mold.

The outer skin comprises firstly softwood fibre insulation board covered by a wind- and waterproof layer of waxed or oiled paper, onto which battens were fixed for the larch cladding. The horizontal weatherboarding, desired by the client as a reference to the regional barns, consists of uneven-width boards that have not been cut straight but simply stripped of the bark. The resulting wavy edges run around the entire house, meeting to form remarkably precise mitred corners. The dark colour, which was also applied to the oak window frames and reveals is a product of linseed oil mixed with graphite. The interior walls are made of pine sheathing onto which single-layer reed matting has been attached as a base for the lime plaster.

The building’s traditional but modern-day craftsmanship eschews all romanticism and corresponds to the clarity of the building’s internal organisation, floor plan and elevation.

Originally published in Bauwelt 08.2017, pp. 26-31, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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