Truss construction
A construction based on the anchor beam, the change of the landscape and the typology of rural buildings.
After a successful period of thousands of years, the classic wooden truss construction of the farm has largely disappeared or been replaced by soulless steel trusses in the last half century. Even if it is not necessary, the special wooden constructions are demolished during renovation without any awareness of cultural history. Only the outer shape, the outline of the farm, is still cherished as a relic.
location: Heeswijk-Dinther, Netherlands
dimension: cm (l,w,h)
material: multiplex, square timber, steel cables, laquer
exhibition: Ctrl + Alt + Del, The Future Now
May 23 – Jund 28, 2015
curator: Art Foundation Dertien Hectare
venue: Meerstraat 22, Heeswijk
manufacturing: Studio Frank Havermans
special thanks to: Frans van Lokven, Toine van der Heijden, Yvon van der Velden, René van den Broek
photography: © René de Wit, Breda
PUBLICATIONS
traditional truss constuction
New farm-inspired houses, so-called farms, are on the rise, as are so-called notary houses and other misplaced classical forms that have no attachment to the landscape. The original appearance of the farm and other classical typologies have lost their meaning. They have degenerated from function to style.
The transformation from agricultural to suburban area of the surrounding urban areas leaves its traces in the Brabant landscape. A romanticized desire captured in classical forms moves slowly but extremely efficiently through the landscape like a battering ram.
