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A Comparative Study of the Development of Jointing Techniques

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A Comparative Study of the Development of Jointing Techniques DIPLOMARBEIT A comparative study of the development of jointing techniques in log construction across countries in Europe and East Asia ausgeführt zum Zwecke der Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Diplom-Ingenieurs / Diplom-Ingenieurin unter der Leitung Ao.Univ.Prof. Mag.art. Dr.phil. Klaus Zwerger E 253 Institut für Architektur und Entwerfen, Gestaltungslehre und Entwerfen eingereicht an der Technischen Universität Wien Fakultät für Architektur und Raumplanung von Stefanie Schramel 1225667 Die approbierte gedruckte Originalversion dieser Diplomarbeit ist an der TU Wien Bibliothek verfügbar. The approved original version of this thesis is available in print at TU Wien Bibliothek. Wien, am 31. Oktober 2019 Die approbierte gedruckte Originalversion dieser Diplomarbeit ist an der TU Wien Bibliothek verfügbar. The approved original version of this thesis is available in print at TU Wien Bibliothek. Zusammenfassung Der Blockbau ist eine Holzbautechnik, die in Europa einer langen Tradition folgt. In Ostasien wurde die Bauweise auch bereits in frühen Zeitaltern angewandt. Jedoch ist sie im Vergleich zu Europa im Allgemeinen weniger weit verbreitet. Verschiedene Faktoren, unter anderem das Waldvorkommen und Klima in der jeweiligen Region, haben das Auftreten von Blockbauten beeinflusst. Obwohl die Bauweise individuell in verschiedenen Ländern entstand, wurden dieselben Grundprinzipien, um verschiedene Bauaufgaben zu lösen entwickelt – zum Beispiel Maßnahmen, um die Stabilität der Wände sicherzustellen oder feste Verbindungen bei Öffnungen zu erreichen. Darüber hinaus entstanden auch regionale Entwicklungen. Basierend auf der bestehenden Literatur, die den Blockbau meist in einem bestimmten Land oder einer Region bespricht, gibt diese Arbeit einen Überblick über den bestehenden Wissensstand und analysiert die Elemente der Bauweise in ausgewählten europäischen und ostasiatischen Ländern. Der Fokus hierbei liegt auf der Entwicklung der verschiedenen Verbindungstechniken, die die Ausformung von Architekturen ermöglichen. Abstract Log construction is a wood construction technique, which follows a long tradition in Europe. In East Asia the technique was also used already in earlier times. In comparison to Europe its overall usage remained limited. Climatic conditions and the availability of wood have primarily influenced the development and use of log construction as a building method. Interestingly, although it has been developed independently in many regions, similar solutions for different tasks have been achieved – for instance, to ensure the stability of the walls or to build tight joints at openings. Moreover, regional developments can be observed. Building upon a substantial body of literature discussing log construction in specific countries or regions, this thesis gives an overview of the existing knowledge and analyses the elements of the building technique log construction across different European and East Asian countries. Its focus lies on the progress of jointing techniques, which enabled the shaping of Die approbierte gedruckte Originalversion dieser Diplomarbeit ist an der TU Wien Bibliothek verfügbar. The approved original version of this thesis is available in print at TU Wien Bibliothek. architectures. Die approbierte gedruckte Originalversion dieser Diplomarbeit ist an der TU Wien Bibliothek verfügbar. The approved original version of this thesis is available in print at TU Wien Bibliothek. CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background and research question 1 1.2 Significance of the study 1 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 3 2.1 Region 3 2.2 Structure 4 2.3 Typologies 4 2.4 Building material and its character’s influences on other factors 5 3 LOG CONSTRUCTION 7 3.1 The building material wood and the building methods’ dependence of its availability 7 3.1.1 Climatic influences 9 3.1.2 Field of application 10 3.2 Log building tasks 11 3.2.1 Outer shell – boundary between the outside and the inside 12 3.2.2 Incorporation of interior walls 16 3.2.3 Border to the top – roof 17 3.2.4 Wall Apertures – doors and windows 21 4 CROSS-COUNTRY STUDY BY REFERENCE TO SELECTED EXAMPLES 25 4.1 Europe 25 4.1.1 Northern Europe – secular buildings 26 4.1.2 Northern Europe – sacral buildings 37 4.1.3 Central Europe – secular buildings 43 4.1.4 Eastern Europe – secular buildings 49 4.1.5 Eastern Europe – sacral buildings 56 4.2 East Asia 72 4.2.1 China 72 4.2.2 Japan 79 5 COMPARISON OF ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS ACCORDING TO THE CATEGORIES: PLAN, SECTION, ELEVATION, DECORATION AND JOINTING TECHNIQUE 83 5.1 Europe 83 5.1.1 Northern Europe 83 5.1.2 Central Europe 87 5.1.3 Eastern Europe 89 Die approbierte gedruckte Originalversion dieser Diplomarbeit ist an der TU Wien Bibliothek verfügbar. The approved original version of this thesis is available in print at TU Wien Bibliothek. 5.2 East Asia 95 5.2.1 China 95 5.2.2 Japan 96 6 CONCLUSION 97 7 LIST OF FIGURES 101 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY 111 Die approbierte gedruckte Originalversion dieser Diplomarbeit ist an der TU Wien Bibliothek verfügbar. The approved original version of this thesis is available in print at TU Wien Bibliothek. 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background and research question The idea for this thesis evolved when the researcher compared traditional Austrian and traditional Chinese architecture while studying in Shanghai, China. The only traditional solid wooden construction technique that occurs in both countries equally structured and thus could be comparatively studied, is log construction. Yet, it seemed the building technique had been further developed in Austria than in China. Consequently, the question arose on how the building method developed and under which circumstances. Further research on log construction unveiled that the existing literature commonly discusses the building method in specific countries or regions but does not give a cross-country comparison. Thus, two research questions have emerged: (1) How far has the building technique been developed in each region and (2) where has log construction been developed furthest. To address these and structure the thesis, main building tasks of the building technique have been defined. First, how does log construction solve the task of building an outer shell and provide a boundary between the out- and the inside? Second, how are interior walls built as part of the construction? Third, how have roofs, doors and windows been integrated? Finally, which building types or constructions have been or are built? Consequently, to be able to show a variety of different usages and solutions according to the before mentioned tasks built in log construction, the study field was enlarged from covering Austria and China to Europe and East Asia, respectively. In addition to answering the building tasks, the development of buildings will be analysed according to five architectural elements – plan, section, elevation, decoration and jointing technique. 1.2 Significance of the study As mentioned earlier, a substantial body of literature that discusses log construction exists. However, the literature mostly focuses on specific countries or regions. To date, there have Die approbierte gedruckte Originalversion dieser Diplomarbeit ist an der TU Wien Bibliothek verfügbar. The approved original version of this thesis is available in print at TU Wien Bibliothek. not been cross-country studies of structures specifically built in log construction technique across European and East Asian countries. While some authors do bring comparative examples, these mostly focus on comparing European-to-European examples and barely European-to-East Asian ones. As log construction developed independently in Europe and East Asia, the thesis’ objective is to provide more variations of how the construction technique developed as compared to analysing Europe only. 1 The aim of this thesis is to combine the existing knowledge and analyse the development of log construction across countries in Europe and East Asia. After giving an introduction to the background and building tasks, examples will show how different factors influence the building method and how different tasks are similarly or differently solved across countries or regions. Therefore, this thesis discusses a variety of fields of applications as well as the development of log construction and gives an overview on the building technique’s usage. Being based on secondary literature, this study extends currently fragmented scientific knowledge. It is worth noting that the availability of literature regarding East Asia in English language is very limited, hence more focus is placed on European log construction examples. The remainder of this thesis is organised as follows. Chapter 2 briefly reviews the relevant literature on log construction. Chapter 3 outlines log construction as a building technique and its building material, before a cross-country study on how building tasks are accomplished in different countries or regions in Europe and East Asia is presented in chapter 4. Chapter 5 analyses selected architectural elements along the five focal categories: plan, section, elevation, decoration and jointing technique. The final chapter presents concluding consideration. Die approbierte gedruckte Originalversion dieser Diplomarbeit ist an der TU Wien Bibliothek verfügbar. The approved original version of this thesis is available in print at TU Wien Bibliothek. 2 2 LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews the existing body of literature along four categories: (1) region, (2) structure, (3) typologies and (4) material and its property’s influences
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