Homes not for everyone?

The architecture of half-timbered houses initially had all the signs of housing, which emphasized a certain status of its owner. And it does not matter whether we are talking about ancient hallenhauses, medieval half-timbered houses or modern glazed Huf and half-timbered cottages, this remains the case to this day. To build a half-timbered house, it has always required the involvement of a large number of labor. Delivery, cutting and assembly of wooden structures was a very laborious process. In the assembly of wooden beams of a powerful frame, the placement of spacers and the filling of cell segments, not only solid carpentry experience was required, but also a special design sense...

Woodworkers often carved directly on posts, girders, struts, or carved family coats of arms in specially designated places. Therefore, the projects of half-timbered houses were created and implemented by craft schools (clans), which were held in high esteem by all the local nobility.

Distribution and versions welcome!

Contrary to an erroneous opinion, half-timbered houses are common not only in Germany, but there are many of them in France, and in England, and even in Japan, and everywhere they have their own face and their characteristic differences that determine the place, culture and era, into which they were raised.

Why are buildings so different in design and appearance combined into one group, and what is so special about it? Is the modern, well-recognized brand, uniform black and white style of glass Hoof Houses and half-timbered houses the last word of the half-timbered concept of our era, or is it just another step in the evolutionary flight of stairs?

What should a modern Ukrainian half-timbered house look like?

Ukrainian fachwerk must be made of wood! :)

Today, Modern Wooden Houses is working on a Ukrainian concept, in which projects of half-timbered houses, will combine three important factors that determine the further direction of development of half-timbered technology in the Ukrainian market:

1. A fresh look at the form and space of the living area, which will provide a new level of comfort
2. Rich and varied appearance
3. Ease of practical implementation, which will positively affect the price and speed of construction.

Another feature that is taken into account when creating a half-timbered house project is the quality and sections of the main supporting wooden structure. Unlike conventional frame construction, the entire timber structure of a fachwerk will remain visible, so it must be beautifully and competently integrated into the design, in the form of beams and columns. The sections of beams and racks are selected taking into account the total area of the building, the functional purpose of the premises, the weight of objects and equipment that are planned to be placed there, and the maximum length of the spans.

Traditions without which half-timbered not half-timbered ... still remains half-timbered!

Modern designs of half-timbered houses have acquired their own traditions, which are often imitated by designers, architects and builders of all categories. But individual design is not necessary, and far from always, follows this fashion.

Cubic Geometry

The first thing that catches the eye in the design of modern half-timbered houses, in addition to the huge amount of glass everywhere, is the deliberately simple cubic geometry. This tradition is explained by the fact that it is much more profitable for a manufacturer of finished panels in production to think over a few simple templates for quickly assembling a house on site than to configure factory equipment each time for an individual project.
Alas, even the classic medieval half-timbered houses did not always have the correct geometric shape, because the streets of the old city were narrow, and in places where there was a busy movement of carts, the corners of the buildings were made broken to make it easier for horses to pass each other.

Now half-timbered houses are being built in combination with a spacious landscape design and there is no need to save space, however, the site or its landscape can have any shape and the technology allows you to plan the space as you like, for example, a semicircle, a polyhedron or any other original shape, primarily based on the interior design of the residential area , and further, closing the received concept of placement - with walls...

Цельные, стеклянные стеновые панели

Separately, I would like to touch on the use of glass. Of course, having exclusively large glass walls is mega cool, but if we talk about solid large glass blocks, which are also a prefabricated part of the facade of some manufacturers, then something happens to it during operation, its replacement is not just a replacement of a frame windows, you can’t do this without special equipment, and such a design detail is made to order. And the glass wall(s) of modern half-timbered houses mostly do not open, and windows in such a room are not provided (the walls are transparent), therefore, in such cases, the house requires a complex expensive ventilation system.

It is for this reason that some companies specializing in the construction of half-timbered houses (for example, like ours :) have developed methods for installing double-glazed windows (or opening blocks) in wooden structures on a construction site. Of course, each solution has advantages and disadvantages, but in most cases it is much cheaper to equip the wall with several relatively small opening double-glazed windows instead of one exclusive non-opening wall block and it is cheaper to repair and more practical to maintain.

1,2-pitched roof with a small angle of inclination

Another interesting tradition is a 1, 2-pitched roof with a small angle of inclination. If there are attic rooms inside a large area, it will definitely need skylights, which often provide light, but not a view of the surrounding view. The view can only be partially viewed through the transparent end gable.

In the old days, observation windows were made in the roof so that a person, even in the attic, could see the street and the world around him. Today, in order for the attic floor to have a good view, architects use an original technique: they break the plane of the roof in such a way that the "view" sides of the building walls are higher than its other part. Then a window can be cut into the wall, and the main wind load, the direction of the drains or the weight of the snow cap can be divided by the broken shape of the roof. However, some people like this technique, some do not, but with this form of roofing, the presence of attic and observation windows is not necessary in the roof at all, because where in the classic case there was a blind slope of the roof with a window to the sky, now there is a large a window in the wall with a beautiful view of the landscape, what else do you need?

Tradition vs innovation

In individual design, along with traditional methods, there is always a need for an innovative approach, sometimes to realize something original, and sometimes it is dictated by a purely practical approach for different purposes. Projects of half-timbered houses can have a variety of designs and shapes. This technology has a very large potential for implementation, design techniques, design ideas and a purely practical approach. Choose what you need and implement, make it a reality, because diversity only enriches the technology with the proud name of Fachwerk-House.

And we remind you that today we talked about the concept of "projects of half-timbered houses in Ukraine" from the company Modern Wooden Houses. Call us, our architects will be happy to participate in the creation of your version of the half-timbered house project, the implementation of which will be happy to be carried out for you by experienced builders of our company.