It has been some time since I've been able to post on these forums.
I'd like to share with all of you one of my latest projects. This is a large sketchup model of a fairly typical Bernese (Swiss) farm house. -Specifically, the architecture is consistent with the central regions of the Canton of Bern, particularly in the west of the Canton between the cities of Bern and Thun. It lacks the larger overhangs one would find in the Emmental, and has the more subdued roof line more typical of the south (Here it is modeled with a 10/12 pitch, whereas in the north roofs would have a pitch of 45 degrees or greater)
The style is more of a "Modern" building, using the half-timbering (in Switzerland called Riegelbau, and in Germany known as Fachwerk) style that became dominant in the region from the end of the 18th century until the present day, though many regions have preserved older solid wood construction methods even today.
Half-Timbering in the German-speaking world is likely descended from the building methods of the Swiss subalpine ranges, where the frames were built in a very similar style, only using solid wood infills in lieu of braces and brick or stone between the timbers. This technique dates back perhaps 1000 years, and originated as a modification of the local log building forms, driven by influences from the timber framing techniques to the north along the Swiss Plateau.
The overall design of the building would place it some time around 1800. This is not modeled after a real building, but an attempt to create a fairly "typical" timber frame to demonstrate the traditions. As such it is basically an older Half-Timbered form typical of the southern range of the great Bernese Bauernhaus (a farmhouse incorporating several buildings under a single roof). What this means is that it incorporates older architectural elements such as the larger hip on the front (Halbwalmdach" or half-hipped roof, as opposed to the "Viertelwalmdach" of "Krüppelwalmdach" or quarter/cripple hip roof more typical later, particularly closer to the city of Bern) and the full hip on the rear, where newer buildings might have no hip at all or have the same degree of hip as the front. It also features a single roof pitch along the length of the building, whereas newer buildings tend to have a shallower lower roof angle due to the framing method used to support the roof.
This building features a posted roof construction more typical of the southwest, rather than the "Liegender Binder" technique that took over later. Many older buildings today feature a more modern "Liegender Stuhl" type of roof construction atop a much older wall frame that originally supported a flatter roof. This is possible due to the genius of southern Bernese timber framing, in which the wall ad roof structures are almost entirely independent of each other.
In keeping with a more archaic character, this building also lacks the so-called "Ründi" on the front gable, a rounded decorative feature typical throughout the Canton.
Half-Timbered construction in this style stands in contrast to more familiar styles of timber framing in a number of ways. The biggest defining characteristic is the use of a larger number of significantly smaller timbers to support the roof, and posts are typically only a single story in height.
There is no concept of "Bent" or "Bay construction in the southern Bernese forms of timber framing, which descend from log building. Instead walls are assembled piecemeal. The typical method used today involves assembling entire lengths of single-story wall sections in the workshop and typing them together with permanent steel rods linking the sill and top plate. Of course some elements must be omitted to allow them to be assembled on site.
As mentioned above the framing of the roof is independent, for the most part, of the wall structure. By that I mean that the wall posts themselves do not directly carry the roof sills and purlins, rather a roof support system (here a series of posts supporting purlins and the ridge beam) are stacked on top of the walls. This eliminates the need for tall posts. The tallest post in this structure is about 12 feet.
The support for the roof does not always directly follow in a straight line from purlin to the foundation. That is, the purlin posts may not have a wall post directly underneath them. In this way the room layout is allowed to proceed without being determined by the location of the supporting members, although good design tends to allow for direct support. In the structure above, the roof system conveniently divides the structure into thirds along its width.
Older Bernese timber frames employ massive timbers -typically much larger than anything we use in American timber framing. This is largely due to the availability of large straight trees, and the practicality of not hewing overly small timbers out of the large trees. Half-timbering arose when technology made it more practical to transport trees to the sawmills, and then back out to the rural farms where these buildings were constructed. The use of smaller timbers with greatly simplified joinery meant that buildings could be constructed much more quickly than before at much lower costs.
Typical wall posts are roughly 4x4 to 5x5 (Measurements are approximate, since the local inch was not the same as our US Standard inch) with larger posts used in the corners and at wall junctions, with corners removed so that a small bearing face would project into the rooms for attaching paneling.
The only large timbers are used in the roof structure. Here 8x8 and 8x6 timbers are used, which are fairly typical, and 8x10 is shown for the ridge beam.
Another notable feature of this building is that it may actually get built...