Construction techniques and their nuances in Brazil — across different regions and time cuts

Fotografia do livro Fachwerk - A Técnica Construtiva Enxaimel.

A professora e tradutora de português  para o inglês - Rúbia Gomes generosamente traduziu este artigo e também, parte presente no livro que publicamos em dezembro de 2019 - Fachwerk - A Técnica Construtiva Enxaimel, para o inglês, para atingir pesquisadores residentes fora dos limites do Brasil e que compartilhamos aqui nesse espaço, com intuito de disponibilizá-lo mediante  esse ato de generosidade.

Artigo - em inglês

*Angelina Wittmann[1]

Abstract

The space occupied by society, the scenario of its social, economic, and political relations and practices is the result of experiences of this same society and can be classified and studied from previous historical periods—it is an important exercise to understand the space under the current view.

This fact has led us to observe the evolutionary process of the house built by using the method of timber framing since the beginning, in Europe, and also, within a more recent time cut in the Itajaí Valley in the South of Brazil, which could have been found anywhere else, where the half-timbered house was built. The final result of the house is related to man's ability to draw up space, making use of natural materials taken from the surroundings, adopted technology, the type and improvement of the labor used, the culture, and activities of the people who make up the living society that builds and makes use of the space of the house, the historical time cut—the half-timbered house.

Introduction

Throughout these reflections, one can conclude that the issues observed are the reason for the final result of the local construction technique within a historical time cut-off, wherever it may be built. This diversity due to the varieties mentioned above is responsible for different shapes and typologies used to build the half-timbered house around the world, in Europe, in Germany, and in some regions of Brazil like Rio Grande do Sul, Espírito Santo, and Santa Catarina.

This study, under the historical and anthropological aspect, can help to understand the process of Fachwer — Timber Framing: Half-Timbered Construction Techniques and its many and different stages.

Materials and methods

Since the 1990s, we have been studying the half-timbered construction technique. We noticed that on a regional scale through the Itajaí Valley—located in the state of Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil, there were many ready-made “answers and concepts”, among which some contradicted each other, others did not present much purpose and coherence within the superficial research that we developed at different times.

We also noticed that “experts” of the regional construction technique emerged, whose content and practice were superficial in face of the technique used not only in the South of Brazil but also in other regions and much of Europe, the United States, and in the East.

When I joined the academy as a professor, I felt the need to change this issue and share it as a contribution to research.

We know German classics published through the research by Günter Binding, Udo Mainzer, Anita Wiednau, Wilhelm Hansen, and Herbert Kreft under the titles Kleine Kunstgeschhichte des Deutschen Fachwerkbaus and Fachwerk im Weserraum. The continuous search to understand more about the half-timbered construction technique took us to Germany, the origin of the half-timbered that was brought to the Itajaí Valley and to Brazil, where we had the chance, thanks to the editor of the German magazine Weltruf — Dr. Wolfgang Betz, to find architects and researchers of the subject, such as Holger Göttler and Dr. Konrad Bedal, in addition to being in scenarios shaped by original sets of half-timbered houses, built in various historical periods.

This work, a starting point of the study of houses built in different regions of Brazil, about the same historical period, by immigrants coming from almost the same region—yet they have different characteristics. Together with the desire to deepen ourselves on the half-timbered construction technique, which has its origin far beyond the limits of Germany and reflects man's practices within societies in many historical periods, each one within its cut and territory and that never ceased to be built, from the technology at the time it was used, in Germany and abroad, after all, reforestation is sustainable by excellence, we aim to understand the differences in shape, material and volumetric of the half-timbered house built in three regions of Brazil: Rio Grande do Sul, Espírito Santo, and Santa Catarina.

Result and Discussion

“Why is the half-timbered method of construction in Rio Grande do Sul, Espírito Santo, and Santa Catarina different?”

For better viewing and understanding, assuming that the images communicate, we will present some typologies of the three states mentioned, Rio Grande do Sul, Espírito Santo, and Santa Catarina, by showing some commented images.

Rio Grande do Sul

The region of Rio Grande do Sul was not endowed with a forest-based as diverse and abundant as the Atlantic Forest found in the hinterland of the State of Santa Catarina—from which a lot of wood was used to build houses with timber framing structure. Generally, the half-timbered structure of the Rio Grande do Sul house has fewer timber elements, almost always it has the basement—the influence of the Italian houses in that region, and also elements such as openings like sash windows, which remind us the Portuguese-Spanish architecture. There is no clear definition of urban and rural typologies, but you can see the origin of the house—suitable to the place and society—its culture and technology.

Figure 1 — Rio Grande do Sul half-timbered house with a frontal attachment/extension of the original German characteristic typology, similar to the one built in the Itajaí Valley which we call Casa Permanente (Permanent House). The lack of symmetry in the layout of the timber frames, this one, with a few elements. Plastered masonry closure, with wooden openings—opening vents, in some windows. Construction over basement—influence of the Italian houses built in that region. The basement—Keller—common in today's Germany, was also an influence of the Romans. Photo by Gil Jacobus

Figure 2 — Rio Grande do Sul half-timbered house. Closure partly plastered and partly with exposed massive brick, presence of a porch, wooden openings, and much like the house built in Santa Catarina—apart from the smaller amount of structural timber frames. Photo by Gil Jacobus

Espírito Santo

The German immigration in the state of Espírito Santo has happened through the creation of Santa Isabel Colony in 1848, by the arrival of the Rhenish, and the Santa Leopoldina Colony in 1858, with the arrival of the Pomeranian.

The Espírito Santo half-timbered house, of the three states mentioned above, was the one that had more influence from the pre-existing architecture in the region, the Brazilian rural house. Its structure formed by the presence of joined timbers had a different volumetric typology, less sloping roof, and the presence of a porch, compounding differently from the one used in Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul and more similar to the large house of the colonial period of Brazil. The use of wood in the half-timbered structure is fewer than the house built in Rio Grande do Sul.

 

Figure 3 — Espírito Santo half-timbered house—Florencio Welmer. Plastered structure mostly made of clay, whitewashed. Porch framed in the main body with different size of the Permanent House built in the South—an influence of the pre-existing regional house.  Wooden openings. House built on bollards elevated from the ground. Little sloping roof, one of the main features of the German house—for millennia. Photo by Armin Miertschink and Werner Bruske

 

Figure 4 — Espírito Santo half-timbered house—Germano Krueger house.  The volumetric shape of the main body is similar to the Permanent House of the South, with the presence of attachments that report to the region in which it was built, such as the presence of balcony around the main body, commonly used in the Brazilian colonial house. Wooden openings built on bollards, creating a basement elevated from the ground.  Plastered structure. Photo by Armin Miertschink and Werner Bruske

Santa Catarina

To help in this typological comparison of the half-timbered houses built in Rio Grande do Sul, Espírito Santo, and Santa Catarina, we present photographs of houses from the Itajaí Valley taken by Professor Vilmar Vidor, a pioneer in research about constructive half-timbered techniques in the region of the Itajaí Valley. For comparative purposes and analysis of the timber frame architecture built in the three states mentioned, the main subject presented in this book.

Figure 5 — Santa Catarina half-timbered house—Rural Permanent House, very original with unique characteristics through its decorated balusters, and also in the porch cornices. Possibly it was built with the attachments which indicate characteristics of the countryside house, with the presence of the porch and the place for the stove. Highlights for the presence of the Mansardenfenster (Dormer window), in the front of the roof, increasing the natural lighting into the attic. Photo by Vilmar Vidor.

We will not close right here the door to research about half-timbered, this book leaves some suggestions for further research on the topic: the study of the half-timbered construction technique has just begun and there are several possibilities to continue its research. We take this opportunity to state that half-timbered certainly is not a style, it is not limited to a restricted process within a single period, it is not a "two-by-four" piece stuck to a masonry wall or a technique passed on by the native people who lived in Brazil when the pioneers arrived. It was not built and used only by the "settlers", it is not an old thing, it is not past, it is not a poor thing and it is not a brick wall building only.

Half-timbered is a structure using joined timbers that stand independently of the walls, it means it has complex details to distribute the loads and was only achieved in the masonry houses after the experiments in the church of Saint Sophia in the 6th century and then evolved up to the lightness of the stained-glass windows of the Gothic cathedrals - the apex of this revolution in stone masonry construction technique. The timber house had already its structure standing independently of the walls 6,000 years BC.

The half-timbered method of construction added different identity and characteristics to the intramural cities, and then, to the free cities settled by the rivers, in Germany, in Europe, and also in the Itajaí Valley and other regions of Brazil.

Unlike what people claim, the constructive technique has never stopped being built in Germany, it represents one of the highest architectural cultural expressions of those cities and seeds in the collective unconscious for more than 7000 years. The people who keep this heritage in the present time and also build new ones are direct descendants of those who began this constructive technique in the Neolithic period and it was passed on from one generation to the next, always adding some improvements and new technologies learned by practical experiments.

Some preserve tradition when building a half-timbered house, using the same tools, rituals, and practices from a few thousand years ago and even from the medieval golden age, the Germany national period, where contemporary half-timbered production makes use of cutting-edge technology, robotics, modeling, availability in catalogs, different types of materials for closure, shapes, and volumes, all followed under strict environmental and constructive laws in that country.

Nowadays, in Germany, the use of timber framing and its flexibility through the availability of several alternative materials for its closure also works under the ecological aspect and its use is related to the sustainability of the good living.

According to Dr. Jackson Roberto Eleotério[2], a timber architecture researcher: “[...] wood is the only material that can achieve sustainability. Concrete, glass, ceramics, plastics only emit carbon in their production processes while wood stores carbon.”

It was such a pleasure to share this research, which will be continued. Thank you very much!

Conclusion

The timber framing house is one of the many models resulting from a process that started during the first great revolution of humankind, when those ceased being pickers and hunters and have settled themselves down on the ground, becoming farmers and shepherds. The man who tamed himself, according to Munford, and so the unhealthy environment that he had to take his survival and build his primary house with materials extracted from this environment, those were the first stages of the house made of timber frames.

References

BERTUSSI, Paulo Iroquez et al. A arquitetura no Rio Grande do Sul.  Porto Alegre: Mercado Aberto, 1983.
BEDAL, Konrad. Häuser und Landschaft – Fränkisches Freilandmuseum.  Ansbach – Germany: Schmidt Druck GmbH Editor, 1999.GERNER, Manfred. Fachwerk Entwicklung, Instandsetzung, Neubau. 1st ed. München, Druck und Bindung: Printer Trento, Printed in Italy, 2007.GERNER, Manfred. Fachwerksünden. 2nd ed. Bonn: Deutschen Nationalkomitees fur Denkmalschutz, 1989.HANSEN, Wilhelm; KREFT, Herbert. Fachwerk im Weserraum. Hameln, Germany: CW Niemeyer, 1980.KLOCKNER, Karl. Alte fachwerkbauten: geschichte einer skelettbauweise. Munchen: Georg D. W. Callwey, 1978.KRAFT, Adam; NAUJOK, Rudolf. Pommern – Mit Neumarkt und Ostseeküste. Augsburg: Adamkraft Verlag, 1978.LAGO, Paulo Fernando. Santa Catarina: a terra, o homem e a economia.  Florianópolis: UFSC, 1968.LYNCH, Kevin. A imagem da Cidade.  São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 1985.PELUSO JUNIOR, Victor Antônio. Estudos da Geografia Urbana de Santa Catarina.  Secretaria de Estado e Cultura e do Esporte.  Florianópolis: UFSC, 1991.SANTOS, Milton. A natureza do espaço: técnica e tempo, razão e emoção.  São Paulo: 19996.WITTMANN, Angelina. Pesquisador alemão de Fachwerk – Manfred Gerner em Blumenau após 23 anos – Um pouco desta História.  It was published on January 20th, 2019. Available in: Access on July 29th, 2019 – 1:59p.m.
WITTMANN, Angelina C.R. Fachwerk - A Técnica construtiva Enxaimel. Blumenau: AmoLer, 2019. 408pp.:Il.:

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[2] Jackson Roberto Eleotério: Forest Engineer from the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (1997), Master in Science and Technology of Wood from the Escola Superior de Agricultura - Universidade de São Paulo (2000), and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (2009). He is a professor at the Universidade Regional de Blumenau. He is an expert in the area of Forest Resources and Forest Engineering, with special reference to Solar Panel Technology and Water-Wood and Drying Relations, working mainly on the following topics: conventional drying, tropical wood, physical and mechanical properties and quality assurance. Source: Lattes Curriculum.

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[1]M.S. in Urbanism, History, and Architecture of the City from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. I have been a researcher of half-timbered construction techniques for over 25 years. Even before joining FURB's Architecture and Urbanism course in 1992, when I met the pioneering work developed by architect Professor Vilmar Vidor along with the historical architectural heritage at the academy, and also during the internship guided by Professor Vidor at the Instituto de Planejamento e Pesquisas Urbanas de Blumenau (Urban Planning and Research Institute of Blumenau). I continued my research at the Post-Graduate Program of the Department of Architecture and Urbanism of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, in the Masters in Urbanism, History, and Architecture of the City, also under the guidance of Professor Vilmar Vidor.

I have published articles in national journals and also from Germany, where I developed part of this research. I participated in workshops and courses related to half-timbered construction.

I taught in the courses of Architecture and Urbanism at FURB—Blumenau SC, ASSEVIM—Brusque SC, FAMEG—Guaramirim SC, and currently I am a professor of Architecture and Urbanism course at UNIDAVI—Rio do Sul SC. And I keep the Angelina Wittmann Blog—Art, Culture, History, and Anthropology since October 2013. I am the author of the book: Fachwerk - A Técnica Construtiva Enxaimel, Blumenau 2019.