Cowshed in Thankirchen
It is rare that a structure can be as clearly perceived as it is in this cowshed in the foothills of the Upper Bavarian Alps. The framework, featuring a 2.40-m centre-to- centre distance between members, is put together from simple structural elements. The mostly compression-stressed columns and struts and the flexurally stressed beams are of rough-sawn solid timber of grade S 10, felled in the nearby forest belonging to the clients. Both tensile horizontal tie beams are of S 355 round bar steel and have a diameter of 16 mm. Cleats clarify the mechanics of the junctions and nodes. In order to keep the construction costs low, the architect Florian Nagler, together with the structural engineers and the clients, chose a structure that was simple enough to allow untrained helpers to complete much of the preliminary work such as sizing, cutting and drilling.
