Waldviertel – a region of forest and wood utilization. Wooden buildings – 500 years of know-how for the future

Wood was and still is the most important sustainable raw material. The demand is still increasing. Human beings are setting up buildings made of wood since a long time. Even in primeval times they were using shelters made out of branches and twigs. For monumental buildings, stones and bricks took over the role of wood rapidly. In highly forested regions, wood kept being the most important raw material for buildings. Wood can not only be found in log houses. Even in buildings made of stone and bricks huge amounts of timber can be found at the roof and ceiling constructions. The Waldviertel is a region of dense forests of Norway spruce, Silver fir and European beech. The historical wooden parts of the buildings (e.g. roof constructions of churches and castles) are not investigated well, up to now. The situation is worse for rural buildings – farm houses and stables. Goal of the project is to evaluate and date these historical wooden buildings. Students of the Agricultural school (LFS) Edelhof will look for old trees as well as for old buildings – mainly at home at their families. They will take part in sampling and analyzing the objects, too. Students of the HTL Krems (Restauration) will measure some of these objects to draw 3D-models. They will also analyse counting and floating marks. At one hand, regional chronologies for the Waldviertel will be set up – a basis to determine the origin of timber. On the other hand, the skills of carpenters and the typical styles of wooden buildings will be documented. Due to the involvement of students coming from rural regions, it will be easy to find possibilities and to get permission to analyse old buildings. Except Open Air Museums, rare information about these buildings is available.