On a working trip to Miltenberg am Main from 17 to 21 July 2018, a photographic study of half-timbering was carried out as a supplementary activity. Historic Miltenberg is not only a town of red sandstone (see Report 12/2018), but also a panorama of half-timbered buildings. In the Middle Ages the town consisted entirely of half-timbered houses, with the exception of public buildings and the town fortifications. Many of these houses have survived, some of them dating back to the early 14th century.
The first noticeable aspect is physiognomic. Half-timbering lends a house an individual face, a countenance. Half-timbered construction provides an opulent ensemble of “facial features”.
The painterly aspect presents half-timbering as an imaginary phenomenon. Thus half-timbering can be a fertile source of painterly values. Half-timbering reacts to external visual influences, to the surroundings and the light.
The graphic aspect presents half-timbering as a linear composition. Structural and aesthetic criteria combine. We perceive an intended aesthetic that is expressed in decorative work, but also an unintended aesthetic that is derived solely from the tectonics, from the function.
The sculptural aspect presents half-timbering as form and mass. A house is a three-dimensional object. Its construction is therefore always determined by three dimensions. Half-timbering only works when it masters the third dimension. In this, half-timbering is an object in space.
The chromatic aspect presents half-timbering as a bearer of colour. Only 50 years ago, the half-timbering in our historic towns was characterised by uniform colouring. This was based on the tradition of conventional ox-blood paint, derived from dark brown oil paint, the typical brown of half-timbering. Today various shades of colour are used so that an individuality of colour is added to the individuality of form.
The architectural aspect presents half-timbering as an urban spatial function. Half-timbering provides people with a sheltered indoor space and equally an outdoor space with quality of life. Half-timbered buildings, on account of their particular construction, intervene in space differently than buildings made from stone or concrete.
The photographic aspect presents half-timbering as a phenomenon of reality. The aesthetic of chance, of daylight, of the surroundings, as well as the imaging techniques of perspective and cropping, contribute to the effect of the image. To this is added the material appeal of the surface, the haptic experience.
The epic aspect presents half-timbering as variety that is and can be experienced. The eye can get lost in this variety. Even a single half-timbered structure displays many forms, an ensemble of several half-timbered buildings all the more.
The picturesque aspect presents half-timbering as a topos of preconceived perception. The buzzwords range from tradition to romanticism. We are fed an excess of motifs by the tourist industry, and at the same time our way of looking is calibrated so that we spontaneously derive picturesque stimuli from half-timbering in the real world.