TIMBER FRAMING THEN AND NOW
If you have been researching building a timber frame, by this point you have probably drawn certain conclusions from the different literature available. A lot of this information is accurate, however an equal amount is subjugated with false opinions, some plainly artificial. Our artisans perception of timber framing lore is as varied and unique as the frames they shape. They come from a different perception of the art in timber framing.
One regularly hears about our ancestors coming from Europe and discovering vast forests that lent them the materials to further the timber crafts brought over. The homes and structures they built were beautiful reflections of the ones they had left across the ocean. This manner of building established the theme of most contemporary timber frames being built in America today. A conclusion drawn of history for American timbered architecture, often reference and quoted as the foundation for why new frames should look the way they do, based on European archetypes.
What is so often overlooked today, (as in the past,) was the present and indigenous architecture of this continent. The truly dominate timber architecture of this land belongs to all the Native people that lived and died here for thousands of years before the first Europeans ever set foot upon the shores. From the Lenape “King House,” Five Nation “Long House,” and Algonquain “Wigwam,” of the North and Central Eastern Coast, to the extreme Southern buildings of the Miccosukee and Seminole “Chickee.” These all have various styles and complexities of timbered architecture. Chickee’s have withstood hurricanes that have completely erased modern architecture. The Muskogean “Town,” and “Mound” complexes still are an amazement of urban planning and design. As we move West we see intricate homes built of Stone, Earth and timber. The Earthloge, and Grass houses of winter and Tipi of summer, housed pleasantly and sustainably the Peoples of the central plains. In extreme environments of the Southwest, Anasazi built cities into the faces of cliffs, their ancestors later building Ramadas, Hogans, Ki and Pueblos. Reaching the Pacific and Arctic regions we find Pit houses and the most ornate of timbered structures you could find, the “Plank house.” Some of these structures could reach 15 to 30 meters in clear span width, and be over 50 to 60 meters long. The timbered members of the roof are sometimes over a meter in thickness with ornate joinery at the posts lintil union. These set the true theme for timber framed architecture of North America and the style is still the most commonly used in the World today.TIMBER FRAMING STYLES OF TODAY
Our artisans have traveled the world over, gleaning whatever they can from the diverse building methods others have shared. As discussed earlier the most prevalent timber framing method is, “post and lintel.” From the Nile valley of the Middle East to the Pacific coast of America, for thousands of years, this is the ubiquitous style of building a timber frame. It has the most flexibly in both design and engineering, lending itself to not only ultra modern designs but adaptable to fit many architectural needs.
Unlike most current timber frames under construction today that rely on traditional “post and braced lintel “construction of the European tradition, ours do not. Post and braced lintel timber frames are normally built in what is referred to as “bent assembly,” construction. Where an entire bent is assembled on the ground and raised as one unit, following the ridge of a building; having the Eave wall connections raised with each consecutive bent. This often has limited range of design options and can make assembly cumbersome. Whereas, “Post and lintel” timber frames come in more styles, can be constructed with the ridge of a building or across it, and they have flexibly in their layout and engineering, using bracing only where warranted or desired by design. Many skyscrapers and high rise building are of the post and lintel heritage. This style of timber framing is the arch type dating back for thousands of years and only the European branch expanded the use of oblique bracing. The branch that moved east from their Nile Valley origin, only utilized oblique bracing sparingly. When they are used, they often formed a strut, which works in compression and tension, unlike the oblique brace, which only works in compression, (one reason many European timber framers did not “peg” their braces.) Post and lintel frames rely on drop down “teasel” joints and wedged “pass through” joinery to strengthen the building.