Abstract
Western Ukraine is known for its numerous examples of historic sacral wooden architecture, referred to as “tserkvas” in Ukrainian. In the Halychyna region alone, more than 1,100 wooden tserkvas are listed in government registers. Other regions have an approximately equal number. 16 of these are on the UNESCO World Heritage List, some as joint trans-border nominations of Ukraine and Poland. This historic heritage attests to a long tradition of wooden architecture in the region. Although architectural historians distinguish five primary stylistic groupings that have developed over time, all the groupings share a similar structural approach - horizontal wooden log construction. It would seem that with such a stable historical building tradition in place, and a bountiful supply of timber, the construction of new wooden tserkvas would continue indefinitely. However, that has not been the case. Very few new tserkvas have been built, and all of them have adhered to traditional construction methods. Lately, a perception has formed that the traditional horizontal log construction method has contributed to a lack of innovation and stylistic development in this notable architectural heritage. In light of that, a new initiative was formed with faculty from Vienna Technical University, to research new wooden materials and structural techniques that would permit a design evolution of contemporary tserkvas. An additional goal was to ensure a sustainable, environmentally sympathetic approach, much like the tserkvas of the past.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bevz, M., Czuba, M., Dubyk, Y., Gerych, V., Hajda, M., Marcinek, R., Fortuna-Marek, A., Rulewicz, J., Siwek, A., Slobodian, V., Szałygin, J.: Wooden Tserkvas of Carpathian Regin of Ukraine and Poland. Lviv regional state administration, pp. 3–10. Gerdan Company Ltd, Publishing Company, Kraj (2013)
Urnes Stave Church. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/58. Accessed 03 May 2020
Taras, Y.: Sakralna dereviana architektura ukraintsiv Karpat, Lviv. In: NANU, p. 640 (2007)
Winter, W.: Holzbauatlas In: “Holzbauatlas”, Institut für internationale Architektur-Dokumentation, München (2003)
Winter, W., Fadai, A.: Tragwerk und Architektur: Über Logische Strukturen und ressourceneffiziente Materialisierung. Zu den Komplexen Beziehungen zwischen dem, was trägt, und dem, was getragen wird. In: “Die Fakultät für Architektur und Raumplanung/The Faculty of Architecture and Planning”, 7; R. Scheuvens (Hrg.); herausgegeben von: Technische Universität Wien (TU Wien); Böhlau Verlag Wien-Köln-Weimar, Wien, p. 69–74 (2016)
Vecherskyi, V.: Ukrainski dereviani khramy. Kyiv, Nash chas, p. 270 (2007)
Prysiazhnyi, K.: Tserkva doby barokko – muzychnyi instrument? In: Urbanistychno-architekturni problemy mist Halychyny. Red. B. Cherkes, M. Bevz. Derzhavnyi universytet “Lvivska politechnika”. Zbirnyk naukowych prats. Lviv – 1996, pp. 126–127 (1996)
Swatch: Millimeterwerk in Holz. Holzistgenial.at. Holzbauten, News, 11 October 2019. https://www.holzistgenial.at/blog/swatch-millimeterwerk-in-holz/. Accessed 20 Mar 2020
Säie Project Information: Wood programme in architecture and construction. Aalto University. https://www.aalto.fi/en/wood-program. Accessed 02 May 2020
Bergerud, P.: Experimental Wooden Structures: Nothing, or, the Greatness of the Small. Kunstoch designhøgskolen. p. 347 (2015)
Kjolberg, T.: Experimental wooden structures in Norway. https://www.dailyscandinavian.com/experimental-wooden-structures-in-norway. Accessed 03 May 2020. 28 February 2019/0/1167
Metropol Parasol: Largest Wood Structure in the World. In: https://www.iliketowastemytime.com/2012/01/13/metropol-parasol-largest-wood-structure-in-world. Accessed 23 Mar 2020
Metropol Parasol - Redevelopment of Plaza de la Encarnación. https://www.lafargeholcim-foundation.org/projects/metropol-parasol-spain. Accessed 02 May 2020
Syrokhman, M.: 55 derevianych khramiv Zakarpattia. Hrani-T, Kyiv, p. 88 (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Bevz, M. (2021). Between Tradition and Innovation: The Search for Modern Architectural Forms and Structures in the Design of Wooden Churches. In: Blikharskyy, Z. (eds) Proceedings of EcoComfort 2020. EcoComfort 2020. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 100. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57340-9_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57340-9_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-57339-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-57340-9
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)