Some additional information on the project:
The Hirschbachli Käserei will be a facility for the production of a traditional, handmade cheese known as Alpkäse. This cheese is made from the unpasteurized milk of cows who eat only grass from unfertilized pastures during the summer, and only hay during the winter. The practices used in this facility are learned directly from a Swiss master cheesemaker with over 40 years of experience, and the culture used for the cheese has been imported directly from the Alps, having been passed down for countless generations.
The cheese produced here will use the same methods and practices that have been passed down for generations, mentioned even during Roman times.
Blockbau is a traditional building method relying on vertically-stacked timbers fitting tightly and joined to each other with pegs so that the entire wall serves as a single load-bearing unit. Blockbau is extremely versatile, and can be used to build large or small structures.
The Chaletbau tradition of the Berner Oberland is a highly refined form of Blockbau. The Chalets of this region are the highest achievement of vernacular architecture, both in practicality and in beauty. It is the Chaletbau style specifically that this workshop will cover.
What is the purpose you may ask...
The principles behind this system are simply ingenious, having been perfected over the course of many generations, yet having been around for long enough to have proven their effectiveness and durability. Blockbau in the Oberland style is an extremely efficient and durable method of building. Many of the problems and difficulties faced with log building have been dealt with in ingenious ways in this style, even if you do not wish to build specifically Blockbau structures, the methods learned here can be of great use to any log or timber builder.
Chaletbau is in many ways akin to log building, but in others is akin to timber framing.
