The construction of the wooden roof: the case study of the reconstruction of the Old Castle in Stuttgart by P. Schmitthenner. Elements, language, form.

Abstract

In 1931 a fire destroyed the old Castle of Stuttgart. Following a series of debates on the restoration of the castle and in particular on the tall sloping roof, a poor reconstruction of which would have rendered the image of the city “gray and expressionless”. In 1932 Paul Schmitthenner (1884-1972) published one of his projects for the reconstruction the castle. After the fire only the external walls where left intact, their ability to support a load, however, was compromised. In his project Schmitthenner decided to demolish the external walls and to rebuild them with the old stones and supporting pillars from the inside part. Also the tall roof was to be freed from the additions made without planning over the centuries. In the regional competition Schmitthenner proposed his project and won. The compositional principle was the reconstruction of a basilical space with three aisles. This room was realized as a complex construction in wood. The walls of the room, set all under a single great trussed roof, were realized in half-timber structure with unplastered brick infill. To capture light from the sides, he built three of his signature high wall-dormers. Masterly handcrafted, the raw materiality of the wood and the brick, the light that penetrates the room, all the elements underlined the sacredness proper to this internal space. The reconstruction was finished in 1937, but did not last for a long because in 1944 the castle was destroyed by bombing. The intention of this research is to produce the three-dimensional reconstruction of the wooden roof, in order to understand the structural rules of the elements and the measure of the parts which compose the section, and finally to investigate the language of the traditional halftimber system developed in modern solutions and the meaning of form or, in Schmitthenner’s words, the ‘constructed form’ (Gebaute Form).