Stolpverket i logen i Maglö

• The timber-framed parts of buildings and the technical aspects of how the buildings were constructed are rarely addressed in scientific papers on the history of built environments. In Scandinavia architects, art historians, archaeologists and ethnologists have the preferential right to carry out the documentation procedures concerning historic buildings. In this study the 250-year-old barn in Maglö has been the subject of a survey on a historical and technical basis. The aim has been to describe timber framing as a traditional Swedish building method, and to put forward the barn as a unique representative of a forgotten historic building tradition in Southern Sweden. During 2009−2010 a documentation of the barn was carried out which involved measuring and analysing the structure, studying the structural details and the still-existing traces and markings from the original building process. The documentation was performed by carpenters experienced in historic building techniques. Therefore the focus has been to understand the workmanship behind the timber-frame structure, thereby creating a dialogue between the modern and the historic carpenter, which is of great value when the aim of the documentation is to reconstruct the original building process or to make deliberate judgements during restoration. The article firstly gives a review of the history of built environments in Maglö, drawing parallels to Danish barns of the same time, since the inner structure of all similar barns of Southern Sweden has been removed because of the modern use of the buildings for industrialised agriculture. This states that the barn of Maglö is rather unique in Sweden, although only one-third of the building has survived. The second part is a short description of timber framing in a technical and historical context, which states that today there are many regional terms for different timber-framed structures. The Swedish word stolpverk has been suggested as the Swedish parallel to timber framing, and general aspects of the building method are described shortly. The main part of the article is a tour through the timber frames of the barn, describing and analysing structural details that are not obvious to people unfamiliar with the craft and historic working methods. This involves the joinery, the different parts and materials, the traces of the tools, the bracing of the structure and the scribing and marking of the frames. This technical description of the building has shown that a lot of information about how to build timber-framed structures can be obtained from one single building. In order to find out in a broader perspective which methods were used to build timber framing in Sweden, there is a huge amount of practical knowledge hidden in the old buildings. The documentation procedure using exact measurement and a carpenter’s eye to find and analyse the interesting parts and details helps to garner this knowledge.

Subject headings

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Lantbruksvetenskap, skogsbruk och fiske -- Jordbruksvetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries -- Agricultural Science (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Annan materialteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Other Materials Engineering (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Kulturstudier (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Cultural Studies (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Husbyggnad (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Building Technologies (hsv//eng)

Keyword

vernacular architecture

timber framing

working methods

wooden joints

traces

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)