By the way, I should mention Riegelbau is analogous to the German Fachwerk, which is what most Americans at all familiar with the style of framing would think to use. I use Reigelbau because it's more specific -Fachwerk includes a number of different framing styles and really refers to the fact that a building is half timbered. Riegelbau is a very specific type of framing that bears this name whether it is used for a half-timbered structure, or whether the frame is wrapped.

This is the sort of framing most commonly used in Switzerland today, and interestingly enough is frequently employed in the mountainous regions and given a facade to imitate the log building styles native to the region. (A close examination will usually reveal the counterfeit)

There's my off the topic rant for the day...


Also regarding the heavy timber infill, I wasn't inserting that there in an attempt to persuade you to the idea necessarily, just more as an effort to put things in perspective and shed light on how the techniques are being used right now.