Light - Frames, Butt Joints and Gable Roofs: The Strength of Architecture as Civilisation
Let us begin with a brief introduction to light-frame construction. Its genesis can be found in nineteenth-century balloon framing, a construction method based on light-skeleton walls erected by nailing together precut, slender dimensional lumbers. Compared to traditional heavy-frame constructions, it can be built in a relatively short time period through unskilled labour, which ultimately led to its use in the mass supply of housing. On the other hand, it also meant a break from the long tradition of structural joints and the tectonic expressions of heavy-frame construction. If the achievement of mankind is divided into civilisation, a social construct largely influenced by science and technology, and culture, a product of the corresponding mental activities and artistic will to expression, the appearance of the balloon frame could be considered a kind of cultural regression, even if a widely beneficial development for civilisation.
Although Cho Namho is
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