The material was prepared by Svetlana Ryabtseva based on a conversation held with the Shtakin family - Marina and Dmitry, on whose site a fathom bathhouse was designed and built. Moreover, Svetlana took an active part in the development of the bathhouse project according to the traditions of old Russian architecture. The owners willingly shared information about how original project came to life. So, first things first.
In the south of the Moscow region in the Serpukhov district on the banks of the Oka River there is the village “N”. The mountainous landscape of this area allows us to call it Russian Switzerland. Before the revolution, there were a large number of households in the village. Prosperous peasants lived there, most of whom were skilled in working crafts: foundry, blacksmithing, and plumbing. Many of them were related, had large plots of land and beautiful houses. Before the revolution, it was a village with a wooden church. In this beautiful place, our ancestors also owned a plot of land. For more than 300 years they lived in this place and cultivated this land. During Soviet times, the plot was reduced to 24 acres. As expected, at the beginning of the site there is a good-quality five-walled hut, built according to Russian traditions in fathoms. Below in the ravine there gushes a source of magnificent mineral water, which has served the residents since the formation of the village.
Recently we have become the heirs of this land. Everything would be fine, but modern people need more comfort - and we thought about building a bathhouse in this family nest. As usual, appetite comes with eating, and we wanted to build a bathhouse with a second floor, a balcony and a terrace on the first floor. As expected, you need to start with a plan, and not a simple one, but with a plan calculated in fathoms, ensuring harmony between the size of the house and the size of the owners. We were also attracted by the fact that a house built in fathoms is durable and has a beneficial effect on everyone living in it /1/. Immediately before construction began, the plan for the bathhouse was approved.1st floor plan.
Attic plan.
The plan of the bathhouse was made according to ancient Russian fathoms, restored by A.F. Chernyaev based on measurements of Russian churches /1/. Initially, the dimensions of the log house were assumed to be 6x6.4 m, that is, the width was 4 simple fathoms, the length was 4 masonry fathoms. The height of the entire bathhouse was assumed to be 7 m, that is, 4 national fathoms. The foundation was planned to be low, 40 cm, so it was not taken into account. Immediately before starting work, we made adjustments - we added steps with a canopy and roof overhangs. The final dimensions with the porch turned out to be 7.5 x 8 m or 4 church fathoms by 6 smaller fathoms.
The fathom plan was developed in accordance with all our wishes. All that remained was to find excellent builders. The first company we contacted was unable to produce a log house other than the standard dimensions of 6x6m. We got lucky here. In the building materials market, we managed to get the phone number of a foreman from Chuvashia, who offered log houses for bathhouses with logs as much as 38 cm in diameter.
In May, work began to boil. An area opposite the old house was identified and cleared. Previously, a little below the bathhouse, on the side of the steam room, the builders made a septic tank with an overflow system - they dug 3 rings, cemented the bottom and added 2 rings for the overflow, and covered them with plastic hatches on top. On the other hand, higher up, they chose a place for a well. The foundation was planned according to all the rules: they provided not only ventilation holes, but also holes for pipes - for supplying well water and draining wastewater. In the fall, after the construction of the bathhouse, a well was dug next to the bathhouse. In the future, we planned to supply water directly to the bathhouse and install a boiler so that we could take a shower in the summer without resorting to a preliminary fire to heat the water.
The first step was to mark the foundation.
Workers dug a trench under a strip foundation measuring
6.0x6.5 m and depth 70 cm. 20 cm of sand was laid at the bottom - the so-called sand cushion.
Both the house and the chapel are all made of wood.
Rus' has long been considered a country of wood: there were plenty of vast, mighty forests around. The Russians, as historians note, lived for centuries in " wooden age"Frames and residential buildings, bathhouses and barns, bridges and fences, gates and wells were built from wood. And the most common name of the Russian settlement - village - indicated that the houses and buildings here were wooden. Almost universal accessibility, simplicity and convenience in processing, relative cheapness, strength, good thermal properties, as well as the rich artistic and expressive capabilities of wood, brought this natural material to first place in the construction of residential buildings. Not the least role was played here by the fact that wooden buildings could be built to quite short time. High-speed construction from wood in Rus' was generally highly developed, which indicates high level organization of carpentry. It is known, for example, that even churches, the largest buildings in Russian villages, were sometimes erected “in one day,” which is why they were called ordinary.
In addition, log houses could be easily dismantled, transported over a considerable distance and re-installed in a new location. In the cities there were even special markets where prefabricated log houses and entire wooden houses with all the interior decoration were sold “for export.” In winter, such houses were shipped straight off the sleigh in disassembled form, and assembly and caulking took no more than two days. By the way, all the necessary building elements and parts of log houses were sold right there; on the market here you could buy pine logs for a residential log house (the so-called “mansion”), and beams hewn into four edges, and good-quality roofing boards, and various boards“dining rooms”, “bench”, for lining the “inside” of the hut, as well as “crossbars”, piles, door blocks. There were also household items on the market, with which the interior was usually filled peasant hut: simple rustic furniture, tubs, boxes, small “chips” down to the smallest wooden spoon.
However, despite all the positive qualities of wood, one of its very serious drawbacks - susceptibility to rotting - made wooden structures relatively short-lived. Together with fires, a real scourge of wooden buildings, it significantly shortened the life of a log house - a rare hut stood for more than a hundred years. That is why the greatest use in housing construction has been found conifers pine and spruce, the resinousness and density of whose wood provided the necessary resistance to decay. At the same time, in the North, larch was also used to build a house, and in a number of regions of Siberia, a log frame was assembled from durable and dense larch, but all interior decoration made from Siberian cedar.
And yet, the most common material for housing construction was pine, especially boreal pine or, as it was also called, “condovya”. The log made from it is heavy, straight, almost without knots and, according to the assurances of master carpenters, “does not hold dampness.” In one of the contracts for the construction of housing, concluded in the old days between the owner-customer and the carpenters (and the word “order” comes from the ancient Russian “row” agreement), it was quite definitely emphasized: “... to carve the forest with pine, kind, vigorous , smooth, not knotty..."
Construction timber was usually harvested in winter or early spring, while “the tree is sleeping and excess water has gone into the ground,” while the logs can still be removed by sleigh. It is interesting that even now experts recommend logging for log houses in winter, when the wood is less susceptible to drying out, rotting and warping. The material for housing construction was prepared either by the future owners themselves, or by hired master carpenters in accordance with the necessary need “as much as needed,” as noted in one of the orders. In the case of “self-procurement,” this was done with the involvement of relatives and neighbors. This custom, which has existed in Russian villages since ancient times, was called “help” (“toloka”). The whole village usually gathered for the cleanup. This is reflected in the proverb: “Whoever called for help, go yourself.”
They selected the trees very carefully, in a row, indiscriminately, did not cut them down, and took care of the forest. There was even such a sign: if you didn’t like the three trees you came to the forest with, don’t cut them at all that day. There were also specific prohibitions on logging associated with folk beliefs that were strictly observed. For example, cutting down trees in “sacred” groves, usually associated with a church or cemetery, was considered a sin; It was impossible to cut down old trees either - they had to die their own, natural death. In addition, trees grown by humans were not suitable for construction; a tree that fell during felling “at midnight”, that is, to the north, or hung in the crowns of other trees could not be used - it was believed that in such a house the residents would face serious troubles and illnesses and even death.
Logs for the construction of a log house were usually selected with a thickness of about eight vershoks in diameter (35 cm), and for the lower crowns of a log house - even thicker ones, up to ten vershoks (44 cm). Often the agreement stated: “not to set less than seven vershoks.” Let us note in passing that today the recommended diameter of a log for a chopped wall is 22 cm. The logs were taken to the village and placed in “fires”, where they lay until spring, after which the trunks were sanded, that is, they were removed, the thawed bark was scraped off using a plow or a long scraper, which was an arched blade with two handles.
Tools of Russian carpenters:
1 - woodcutter ax,
2 - sweat,
3 - carpenter's axe.
During processing scaffolding Various types of axes were used. Thus, when cutting down trees, a special wood-cutting ax with a narrow blade was used; in further work, a carpenter’s ax with a wide oval blade and the so-called “potes” were used. In general, owning an ax was mandatory for every peasant. “The ax is the head of the whole thing,” people said. Without the ax, wonderful monuments of folk architecture would not have been created: wooden churches, bell towers, mills, huts. Without this simple and universal tool, many peasant labor tools, details of rural life, and familiar household items would not have appeared. The ability to carpenter (that is, to “unite” logs in a building) from a ubiquitous and necessary craft in Rus' turned into a true art - carpentry.
In Russian chronicles we find unusual combinations - “cut down a church”, “cut down mansions”. And carpenters were often called “cutters.” But the point here is that in the old days they didn’t build houses, but “cut them down” without a saw or nails. Although the saw has been known in Rus' since ancient times, it was not usually used in the construction of a house - sawn logs and boards absorb moisture much more quickly and easily than chopped and hewn ones. The master builders did not saw off, but cut off the ends of the logs with an ax, since sawn logs are “blown by the wind” - they crack, which means they collapse faster. In addition, when processed with an ax, the ends of the log seem to be “clogged” and rot less. The boards were made by hand from logs - notches were marked at the end of the log and along its entire length, wedges were driven into them and split into two halves, from which wide boards were hewn out - “tesnitsy”. For this purpose, a special ax with a wide blade and a one-sided cut was used - “potes”. In general, carpentry tools were quite extensive - along with axes and staples, there were special “adzes” for selecting grooves, chisels and clearings for punching holes in logs and beams, and “lines” for drawing parallel lines.
When hiring carpenters to build a house, the owners stipulated in detail the most important requirements for the future construction, which were scrupulously noted in the contract. First of all, the necessary qualities of the scaffolding, its diameter, processing methods, as well as the timing of the start of construction were recorded here. Then a detailed description of the house that was to be built was given, the space-planning structure of the dwelling was highlighted, and the dimensions of the main premises were regulated. “Build me a new hut,” it is written in the old row, four fathoms without an elbow and with corners” - that is, about six and a quarter meters, chopped “in the oblo”, with the rest. Since no drawings were made during the construction of the house, in the construction contracts the vertical dimensions of the dwelling and its individual parts were determined by the number of log crowns placed in the frame - “and there are twenty-three rows up to the hens.” The horizontal dimensions were regulated by the most commonly used long log - usually it was about three fathoms "between the corners" - about six and a half meters. Often the orders even provided information about individual architectural and structural elements and details: “to make doors on the jambs and windows on the jambs, as many as the owner orders to be made.” Sometimes samples, analogues, examples from the immediate surroundings were directly named, focusing on which the craftsmen had to do their work: “.. and make those upper rooms and the canopy, and the porch, like Ivan Olferev’s small upper rooms were made at the gate.” The entire document often ended with a disciplinary recommendation, instructing the craftsmen not to abandon the work until it is completely completed, not to postpone or delay the construction that had begun: “And not to leave until finishing that mansion.”
The beginning of the construction of a dwelling in Rus' was associated with certain deadlines regulated by special rules. It was considered best to begin building a house during Lent (early spring) and so that the construction process would include the Trinity holiday; remember the proverb: “Without the Trinity, a house is not built.” It was impossible to start construction on the so-called “hard days” - Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and also on Sunday. The time “when the month is full” after the new moon was considered favorable for starting construction.
The construction of the house was preceded by special and rather solemnly formalized rituals, in which the most important, earthly and celestial phenomena that were most significant for the peasant were reflected, in which the forces of nature acted in a symbolic form, and various “local” deities were present. According to an ancient custom, when laying the foundation of a house, money was placed in the corners “to live richly,” and inside the log house, in the middle or in the “red” corner, they placed a freshly cut tree (birch, mountain ash or fir-tree) and often hung an icon on it. This tree personified the “world tree”, known to almost all nations and ritually marking the “center of the world”, symbolizing the idea of growth, development, connection between the past (roots), present (trunk) and future (crown). It remained in the log house until the construction was completed. Another interesting custom is associated with the designation of the corners of the future home: in the evening the owner poured four piles of grain into the supposed four corners of the hut, and if the next morning the grain turned out to be untouched, the place chosen for the construction of the house was considered good. If someone disturbed the grain, then they were usually careful not to build on such a “dubious” place.
Throughout the construction of the house, another custom, very ruinous for the future owners, was strictly observed, which, unfortunately, has not become a thing of the past and today quite frequent and plentiful “treats” for the master carpenters building the house, with the aim of “appeasing” them. The construction process was repeatedly interrupted by “hand-made”, “filling”, “matika”, “rafter” and other feasts. Otherwise, the carpenters could be offended and do something wrong, or even just “play a trick” - lay out the log house in such a way that “there will be a buzzing in the walls.”
The structural basis of the log house was a log frame with a quadrangular plan, consisting of logs laid horizontally on top of each other - “crowns”. An important feature of this design is that with its natural shrinkage and subsequent settlement, the gaps between the crowns disappeared, the wall became more dense and monolithic. To ensure the horizontality of the crowns of the log house, the logs were laid so that the butt ends alternated with the top ends, that is, thicker ones with thinner ones. To ensure that the crowns fit well together, a longitudinal groove was selected in each of the adjacent logs. In the old days, the groove was made in the lower log, on its upper side, but since with this solution water got into the recess and the log quickly rotted, they began to make the groove on the lower side of the log. This technique has survived to this day.
a - “in the oblo” with cups in the lower logs
b - “in the oblo” with cups in the upper logs
At the corners the log house was tied together with special notches, a kind of log “locks”. Experts say that there are several dozen types and variants of cuttings in Russian wooden architecture. The most commonly used were cuttings “in the cloud” and “in the paw”. When cutting “into the edge” (that is, roundly) or “into a simple corner,” the logs were joined in such a way that their ends protruded outward, beyond the boundaries of the log house, forming the so-called “remnant,” which is why this technique was also called cutting with the remainder. The protruding ends well protected the corners of the hut from freezing. This method, one of the most ancient, was also called cutting “into a bowl”, or “into a cup”, since special “cup” recesses were selected in them to fasten the logs together. In the old days, cups, like longitudinal grooves in logs, were cut into the underlying log - this is the so-called “cutting into the lining”, but later they began to use more rational way with a cut in the top log “into the overlay”, or “into the shell”, which did not allow moisture to linger in the “lock” of the log house. Each cup was adjusted to the exact shape of the log with which it came into contact. This was necessary to ensure the tightness of the most important and most vulnerable to water and cold components of the log house - its corners.
Another common method of cutting “in the paw”, without leaving a trace, made it possible to increase the horizontal dimensions of the log house, and with them the area of the hut, compared to cutting “in the clear”, since here the “lock” holding the crowns together was made at the very end of the log . However, it was more complex to perform, required highly qualified carpenters, and therefore was more expensive than traditional cutting with the release of the ends of the logs at the corners. For this reason, and also because felling “in oblo” took less time, the vast majority of peasant houses in Russia were felled in this way.
The lower, “framed” crown was often placed directly on the ground. In order for this initial crown - the "lower" - to be less susceptible to rotting, and also in order to create a strong and reliable foundation for the house, thicker and more resinous logs were selected for it. For example, in Siberia, larch was used for the lower crowns - a very dense and fairly durable wood material.
Often, large stones-boulders were placed under the corners and middles of the mortgage crowns or cuttings of thick logs were dug into the ground - “chairs”, which were treated with resin or burned to protect them from rotting. Sometimes thick blocks or “paws” were used for this purpose - uprooted stumps placed down with their roots. When building a residential hut, they tried to lay the “flat” logs so that the lower crown was tightly adjacent to the ground, often “for warmth” it was even lightly sprinkled with earth. After completing the “hut frame” - laying the first crown, they began assembling the house “on moss”, in which the grooves of the log house, for greater tightness, were laid with “mokrishnik”, torn from the lowlands and dried with swamp moss - this was called “mossing” the log house. It happened that for greater strength, the moss was “twisted” with tows - combed out flax and hemp fibers. But since the moss still crumbled when it dried, at a later time they began to use tow for this purpose. And even now experts recommend caulking the seams between the logs of a log house with tow for the first time during the construction process and then again, after a year and a half, when the final shrinkage of the log house occurs.
Under the residential part of the house, they built either a low underground, or a so-called “basement” or “podzbitsa” - a basement that differed from the underground in that it was quite high, was not, as a rule, buried in the ground and had direct access to the outside through a low door. By placing the hut on the basement, the owner protected it from the cold coming from the ground, protected the living part and the entrance to the house from snow drifts in winter and floods in spring, and created additional utility and utility rooms directly under the housing. A storage room was usually located in the basement; it often served as a cellar. Other utility rooms were also equipped in the basement, for example, in areas where handicrafts were developed, a small workshop could be located in the basement. They also kept small livestock in the basement or poultry. Sometimes the podyzbitsa was also used for housing. There were even two-story, or “two-living” huts with two “livings.” But still, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the basement was a non-residential, utility floor, and people lived in a dry and warm “upper”, raised above the cold, damp ground. This technique of placing the residential part of a house on a high basement became most widespread in the northern regions, where very harsh climatic conditions required additional insulation of living quarters and reliable insulation from the frozen ground; in the middle zone, a low underground, convenient for storing food, was more often installed.
Having completed the equipment of the basement or underground, work began on installing the floor of the hut. To do this, first of all, they cut “crossbars” into the walls of the house - quite powerful beams on which the floor rested. As a rule, they were made in four or less often three, placing two huts parallel to the main facade, two near the walls and two or one in the middle. To keep the floor warm and not drafty, it was made double. The so-called “black” floor was laid directly on the crossbars, assembled from a thick slab with the humps up, or a log roll, and covered “for warmth” with a layer of earth. A clean floor made of wide boards was laid on top.
Moreover, such a double, insulated floor was made, as a rule, above a cold basement-basement, under a hut, and a regular, single floor was installed above the underground, which facilitated the penetration of heat from the living space into the underground, where vegetables and various products were stored. The boards of the upper, “clean” floor were tightly fitted to each other. 
Male roof design:
1 - ohlupen (shelom)
2 - towel (anemone)
3 - prichelina
4 - headband
5 - red window
6 - fiberglass window
7 - flow
8 - chicken
9 - slightly
10 – tes
Usually the floorboards were laid along the line of the window entrance, from front door into the living space to the main facade of the hut, explaining this by the fact that with this arrangement, the floor boards are less destroyed, less chipped at the edges and last longer than with a different layout. In addition, according to the peasants, such sex is more convenient than revenge.
The number of interfloor ceilings - “bridges” in the house being built was determined in detail: “... and in the same rooms, three bridges should be laid inside.” The laying of the walls of the hut was completed by installing a “skull” or “pressure” crown at the height where they were going to make the ceiling, into which the ceiling beam - “matitsa” - was cut in. Its location was also often noted in regular notes: “and put that hut on the seventeenth matitsa.”
The strength and reliability of the base matrix - the base of the ceiling - was given great importance. People even said: “A thin uterus for everything means a collapse of the house.” The installation of the matrix was very important point During the construction of the house, she completed the assembly of the frame, after which the construction entered the final phase of laying the floors and installing the roof. That is why the laying of the matitsa was accompanied by special rituals and another “matitsa” treat for the carpenters. Often the carpenters themselves reminded the “forgetful” owners of this: when installing the motherboard, they shouted: “the motherboard is cracking, it won’t go,” and the owners were forced to organize a feast. Sometimes, when raising the mother, they tied a pie baked for the occasion to it.
Matitsa was a powerful tetrahedral beam, on which thick boards or “humpbacks” were placed “ceiling”, placed flat down. In order to prevent the matrix from bending under the weight, its lower side was often cut along a curve. It is curious that this technique is still used today in the construction of log houses - this is called "hew out the building rise." Having finished laying the ceiling - the “ceiling”, they tied the frame under the roof, laying “shallow” or “shallow” logs on top of the skull crown, with which the ceilings were secured.
In Russian folk housing, functional, practical and artistic issues were closely interconnected, one complemented and followed from the other. The fusion of “usefulness” and “beauty” in the house, the inseparability of constructive and architectural and artistic solutions were especially evident in the organization of the completion of the hut. By the way, it was in the completion of the house that folk craftsmen saw the main and fundamental beauty of the entire building. The design and decorative design of the roof of a peasant house still amazes today with the unity of practical and aesthetic aspects.
The design of the so-called nailless male roof is surprisingly simple, logical and artistically expressive - one of the most ancient, most widely used in the northern regions of Russia. It was supported by the log gables of the end walls of the house - “zalobniki”. After the top, “shallow” crown of the log house, the logs of the main and rear facades of the hut were gradually shortened, rising to the very top of the ridge. These logs were called “males” because they stood “by themselves.” Long log beams were cut into the triangles of the opposite gables of the house, which served as the base of the “lattice” roof. The tops of the gables were connected by the main, “prince’s” beam, which represented the completion of the entire structure of the gable roof.
Natural hooks - “hens” - uprooted and trimmed trunks of young spruce trees were attached to the lower legs. They were called “chickens” because the craftsmen gave their bent ends the shape of bird heads. The chickens supported special gutters for draining water - “streams”, or “water tanks” - logs hollowed out along the entire length. The roof ridges rested against them, which were laid on laths. Usually the roof was double, with a layer of birch bark - “rock”, which protected well from moisture penetration.
At the ridge of the roof, a massive trough-shaped log was “capped” onto the upper ends of the roofing timbers, the end of which faced the main facade, crowning the entire building. This heavy log, also called “okhlupny” (from the ancient name of the roof “okhlup”), clamped the gaps, keeping them from being blown away by the wind. The front, butt end of the ohlupnya was usually designed in the form of the head of a horse (hence the “horse”) or, less commonly, a bird. In the northernmost regions, the shelom was sometimes given the shape of a deer's head, often placing genuine deer antlers on it. Thanks to their developed plasticity, these sculptural images were clearly “readable” against the sky and were visible from afar.
To maintain the wide overhang of the roof on the side of the main facade of the hut, an interesting and ingenious design technique was used - successive lengthening of the ends of the logs of the upper crowns extending beyond the frame. This produced powerful brackets on which the front part of the roof rested. Protruding far forward from the log wall of the house, such a roof reliably protected the crowns of the log house from rain and snow. The brackets that supported the roof were called "releases", "helps" or "falls". Usually, a porch was built on the same brackets, walk-through galleries were laid, and balconies were equipped. Powerful log projections, decorated with laconic carvings, enriched the strict appearance peasant house, gave it even greater monumentality.
In the new, later type of Russian peasant dwelling, which became widespread mainly in the regions of the middle zone, the roof already had a covering on the rafters, and the log gable with males was replaced by plank filling. With this solution, the sharp transition from the plastically saturated, rough-textured surface of the log frame to the flat and smooth plank pediment, while tectonically completely justified, nevertheless did not look compositionally inexpressive, and the master carpenters decided to cover it with a rather wide frontal board, richly decorated with carved ornaments. Subsequently, from this board a frieze developed that went around the entire building. It should be noted, however, that even in this type of peasant house, some brackets-outlets made from earlier buildings, decorated with simple carvings, and carved piers with “towels” were preserved for quite a long time. This determined mainly by repetition traditional scheme distribution of carved decorative decoration on the main facade of the dwelling.
While erecting a log house, creating a traditional hut, Russian master carpenters for centuries discovered, mastered and improved specific techniques for processing wood, gradually developing strong, reliable and artistically expressive architectural and structural components, original and unique details. At the same time, they fully used the positive qualities of wood, skillfully identifying and revealing its unique capabilities in their buildings, emphasizing its natural origin in every possible way. This further contributed to the consistent integration of buildings into the natural environment, the harmonious fusion of man-made structures with pristine, untouched nature.
The main elements of the Russian hut are surprisingly simple and organic, their form is logical and beautifully “drawn”, they accurately and completely express the “work” wooden log, log house, house roofs. Benefit and beauty merge here into a single and indivisible whole. The expediency and practical necessity of any were clearly expressed in their strict plasticity, laconic decor, and in the general structural completeness of the entire building.
Simple and truthful and general constructive solution a peasant house - a powerful and reliable log wall; large, solid cuts in the corners; small windows decorated with platbands and shutters; a wide roof with an intricate ridge and carved piers, and a porch and a balcony, it would seem, and that’s all. But how much hidden tension is in this simple structure, how much strength is in the tight joints of the logs, how tightly they “hold” each other! Over the centuries, this ordered simplicity has been isolated and crystallized, this only possible structure is reliable and captivating with the skeptical purity of lines and forms, harmonious and close to the surrounding nature.
Quiet confidence emanates from simple Russian huts; they have settled soundly and thoroughly in their native land. When looking at the buildings of old Russian villages, darkened by time, one cannot leave the feeling that they, once created by man and for man, at the same time live some kind of their own, separate life, closely connected with the life of the nature surrounding them - so they became akin to that place where they were born. The living warmth of their walls, the laconic silhouette, the strict monumentality of proportional relationships, some kind of “non-artificiality” of their entire appearance make these buildings an integral and organic part of the surrounding forests and fields, of all that we call Russia.
The Siberian taiga is the largest globe forest. Russian traditions of cutting houses from logs are known all over the world. But we continue to build obsolete log buildings - dull and monotonous. Is it possible to build an ultra-modern house using traditional technologies? It turns out that it is possible!
Forests occupy a significant part of the territory of our country - just remember the Siberian taiga. We have learned how to cut log houses again, but for some reason they are not supplied either to Europe or to other parts of the world. Russia mainly exports round timber. lumber at best. But red cedar houses made in Canada are happily bought all over the world (including in Russia), despite their high cost. Why is our cedar worse than Canadian cedar? Maybe we are simply offering both European and domestic developers the wrong houses?
For several years, similar questions haunted the specialists of the Taiga House company, who came to a disappointing conclusion: we really offer consumers unsuitable houses. They should have more light and as many windows so that the landscape is perceived by the owners as part of the interior. And also - an unusual appearance and interior space. It is also necessary that the buildings are reliable, durable and very warm. But how to combine all these requirements in a log structure?
If you go deeper into botany, then Siberian cedar(lat. Pinus sibirica) is actually a type of pine. Canadian red cedar is also not cedar. Its official name is Thuja plicata, or giant Thuja, and it belongs to the genus Thuja of the Cypress family (Cupressaceae). However, following Canada, awarded I named it Western Red Cedar, everyone began to call this plant cedar.
A solution, of course, was found, but the company’s specialists had to spend a long time and carefully studying domestic and foreign technologies for making corner and wall cuts, methods for creating frame structures from logs, as well as techniques that make it possible to combine log and frame structures in one building.
Modern facades wooden houses
At the same time, unexpectedly for themselves, they discovered that all the necessary technologies, methods and techniques had been successfully used in Russian logging centuries ago. It’s just that more far-sighted Canadians, much earlier than us, not only studied and mastered them, but even refined many of them.
And today we adopt other people’s experience, completely forgetting about our own achievements.
It was these almost forgotten techniques that formed the basis of the technology for building houses in the new Russian style: cutting “in the saddle with a fat tail” (it is still somewhat different from the “Canadian cup”), “in the fence”, frame roof structures over huge, composed from individual log houses with houses that resemble the shape of a beam, the letter “G”. "P" or "D". (By the way, before there were technologies that made it possible, if necessary, to enlarge such buildings, transforming them from one form to another.)
In order to modernize future facades and interiors, the company’s specialists carefully studied, let’s not be afraid of this word, the creations of such a well-known house-building company as
Pioneer Log Homes of British Columbia, such a master in the highest sense of the word as Bnan Moore, and such an architect-designer of wooden houses as Murray Amott. And of course. tried to adopt from them all the most best technologies and techniques. For example, the moon groove. cut at the bottom of the logs for their tight longitudinal connection. Outwardly, it differs only slightly from the Russian semicircular groove, but in the assembled structure, the upper log, with the sharp edges of the lunar groove cut into it from below, rests tightly on the lower log.
Insulation is placed into such a connection and into a self-sealing saddle-shaped cup with a fat tail when assembling the walls, and they do not require subsequent caulking. However, they are very labor-intensive and should only be performed by highly qualified craftsmen.
Experts paid special attention sliding joints wooden elements, allowing to compensate for the shrinkage of log structures associated with frame ones, as well as installation techniques that protect windows (regular, panoramic, triangular or even diamond-shaped) in log buildings from crushing. About all this in our story about construction log house usable area 380 m2, made in such an unusual architectural manner that it can be called the new Russian style.
It was erected in the Moscow region by the Taiga House company.
It is no secret that the construction of a log house begins long before the house kit is delivered to the developer’s site.
It’s only careless carpenters who allow themselves to bring a bunch of logs to the site, and then make and assemble a log house from them on the spot - “look, master, how we work.” A competent manufacturer will prepare a log house at a special site, as close as possible to the source of raw materials, and then bring it to the customer and assemble it on the foundation in a week or two, thereby relieving the owners of the need to observe the work of the woodcutters for a long time, and then remove mountains of wood waste.
IN in this case The future house was being manufactured over the course of almost six months on a site located on the bank of one of the Yenisei brothels. To create the side parts of the log house, we used cedar pine logs with an average diameter of 450 mm, which in the cuts and corners were connected with a saddle-shaped lock with an upper edging - it looks beautiful on logs of large diameter (the lock is cut from the bottom, the edging is done from above). In the central (frame) part, the diameter of the log posts was 450-500 mm, and the beams connecting them were 380-420 mm. The rafter legs were made from logs with a diameter of 320-360 mm. After manufacturing and careful adjustment of all elements to each other, the house was disassembled and sent to the customer, and then assembled on the foundation in just 2 weeks.
Foundation for the construction of a modern wooden house
A full-fledged basement floor was designed under the house; it was planned to equip technical rooms, a living room, a home theater, etc. First, the builders dug a foundation pit and drilled holes at its bottom with a depth of 2 m and a diameter of 320 mm (pile spacing is about 1.5 m), laid in They were reinforced with a reinforcing frame and concrete grade M400 was poured.
Next, a sand and gravel cushion 300 mm thick was built along the bottom of the pit, formwork was installed around the perimeter, a reinforcement cage was placed in it, and a monolithic slab 250 mm thick was cast. After this, the formwork for the walls was installed, the reinforcement was laid and the walls were cast from M400 concrete. Then a laminated plywood flooring was laid on top of them, a metal frame was laid on it and a 200 mm thick basement floor slab was poured. Subsequently, drainage pipes were laid along the perimeter of the base of the basement floor, and its walls were waterproofed and insulated from the outside with extruded polystyrene foam. The “basement” turned out to be warm and dry.
A wooden house is warm!
Since the photo report illustrated in sufficient detail the process of constructing a log house with a frame (made of logs) central part and log sides (connected to the frame posts by a cut-in), we will add only a few words about the heat-saving parameters of the building.
Thanks to well-thought-out cutting and assembly technology, the minimum thickness of walls in corners, cuts and longitudinal connections of logs is approximately 1.2-1.5 times greater than that of the walls of houses from the best Canadian manufacturers. And that means the walls of a building near Moscow are warmer.
For creating window designs(including panoramic) used warm aluminum profile Made in Italy with three thermal breaks.
Of course, purchasing and delivering products from abroad is not cheap, but it was worth it, because these profiles are one of the warmest available on the world market.
Energy-saving double-glazed windows with a width of 48 mm are installed in this profile. with glass 6 mm thick. between which argon is pumped. As a result, the reduced heat transfer resistance of the window as a whole is very high - Ro = 0.95-1 m2. °C/W. Underneath everyone large windows Convectors were built into the floors. Thus, in a house with such extensive glazing, even in the most severe frosts it will be warm and comfortable.
Log house - construction
1, 2. First, for the construction of a log house on the site, in accordance with the plan, the houses were placed on one level wooden coasters(1), and then they laid the first larch crown on them (2) - it is not afraid of moisture and is resistant to disease
3-8. First of all, two side frames were erected, using moon grooves (4) and saddle-shaped locks with an upper bolt (3, 5, 6) to connect the crowns. Then, using a notch “into the fence”, the frame posts (7, 8) were attached to the log houses.
9. 10. After completing the installation of the racks connecting the ends of the logs (9), the carpenters installed the necessary additional support racks and mounted the interfloor beams and rafter system (10)
11-13. In the design of the rafter system, specially designed locks were used, allowing the rafters to move outward when the frame shrinks (11, 12). Over large spans, the rafters were combined with beams (13)
14.15. To construct the basement floor, they dug a pit and made a bored piles(14). Next, they were cast sequentially reinforced concrete slab, walls and basement(15)
16. Because all the details wooden structure were carefully adjusted to each other in advance, the assembly of the log house took only 2 weeks.
17.18. When assembling the log house, metal racks were installed under all the logs. screw compensators shrinkage with a threaded rod diameter of 80 mm. They had to be made to order.
19.20. During assembly, the crowns are fitted so tightly to each other that it is impossible to insert even a knife blade (19) either into the longitudinal joint of the logs or into the cup. The insulation lying in the longitudinal lunar groove (20) can only be seen in window openings.
21-23. The rafters were cut into one plane from above, and then a flooring of boards (21) was laid on them. A vapor barrier was laid on top of it and a beam with a cross section of 200 x 80 mm (22) was placed across the slope. A 200 mm layer of insulation was laid between the bars, covered with wind insulation, a counter-lattice and sheathing were nailed, and a copper seam roof (23) was laid on it.
24, 25. Rectangular windows were installed in casing boxes, attached to the logs framing the opening using a sliding method. To protect against the inevitable shrinkage of the frame, gaps 5% wide of the opening height were left above the boxes and filled with insulation.
26-28.The already unusual architectural appearance of the house is emphasized by triangular and diamond-shaped windows mounted under the roof itself. A specially designed installation system with a shrinkage gap protects the window from crushing during shrinkage of logs.
29, 30. Natural lighting in the living room and bedrooms located on the second floor is provided by skylights, which are equipped with an automatic opening system with remote control.
31-33. When drying, the wood “shrinks” by 0.5-0.8% in the direction along the grain. Therefore, panoramic windows (32, 33) were mounted in casing boxes, slidingly attached to the table-bum-racks (a gap was left above the boxes).
34-36. All wooden elements sanded in the house. A large fireplace lined with stone was built in the living room (FOR). Doors with original decor leading to the second floor bedrooms (35, 36) were made to order
37, 38. Outside the house, the logs were sanded and coated with a protective compound. The terraces were covered with larch boards, and their parapets were decorated with balusters made from cedar roots raised from the river bottom.
39, 40. Immediately after its installation, snow holders made of the same material were installed on the copper roof in two rows. Within six months, the copper was covered with a patina, emphasizing the aesthetic and noble appearance of the structure.
41-43. Concrete walls The basement floor was insulated from the outside with extruded polystyrene foam and faced with stone (42, 43). Around the house, at the request of the owners, the ground was leveled, lawns were laid out, and trees and ornamental shrubs were planted (41).
Read also:
Construction of a modern wooden house - photo of log house and assembly
Communications inside a modern wooden log house
Since all the engineering “services” of the house are located on the ground floor, the pipes, cables and ducts coming from them are exhaust ventilation they spread him along the floor of the “basement”, and then lifted him onto its walls and released him upstairs on both sides of the spacious living room. Communications to the premises of the first floor were carried out along the basement slab. On the second level they were laid inside frame walls and were taken to rooms inside the interfloor ceiling.
I'm reading now about the art and architecture of Ancient Egypt. You know me, I always get involved in little things and particulars, questions always arise: “How?” yes “What it’s made of.” I watched several films about temples and pyramids, everything is clear about this: perfectly even blocks carved out of stone, unfortunate builders with osteoarthritis, possible intervention of aliens and all that. But how did ordinary Egyptians live?
The picture above is actually a screenshot, you can watch the video itself here
But they simply lived very closely. The houses were built from adobe brick, which was sculpted from what the Nile brought in every year: a mixture of silt and clay.
Houses were built from such bricks in ancient Egypt.
The area of the house could be 6-10 square meters (like my kitchen). True, in the house they only slept and raised children (apparently, right with existing children), the rest of the time was spent at work or in the yard, when dusk fell, they moved to the roof, where they could sit and drink beer (this is a very respected the lesson was in Egypt) and discuss the events of the day. It must be said that the pharaoh’s home was not much different from the “apartment” of a peasant.
The “anatomy” of the pyramids is clearly visible here
The palaces were surprisingly small and cramped, although, of course, larger than those of the poor, but significantly smaller than temples and funeral complexes. Wood was in short supply, so coastal clay completely solved the problem of building materials. Raw brick was short-lived, but cheap. Over time, it became limp or crumbled, so almost no dwellings reached us. ordinary people. In one program I saw that archaeologists were able to study one house only because it... burned down in a fire and was abandoned: clay under the influence high temperature sintered and acquired the properties of burnt, which allowed the walls, covered with sand, to “survive” to this day.
Reconstruction of an Egyptian home
So the entire imperial scope was embodied in the “near-funeral” architecture of the Egyptians: in the pyramids and temples. They were built where rocky mountains were closer, so as not to carry stone blocks far, but if necessary, they carried them. It is generally believed that the prototype of the pyramids were mountains. There was plenty of building stone - limestone, Aswan granite, porphyry and shimmering alabaster.
Ancient image of brick making
So it turns out that the entire historical architecture of Egypt had a very indirect relationship to the life of the Egyptians; its goal was to please the gods, exalt the pharaoh and provide him with a luxurious afterlife. And it doesn’t matter that most of the state budget was spent on this.
House of a modern Egyptian
It is interesting that in Ancient Palestine the dwellings ordinary people were very similar to the Egyptian ones
HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION
Everything is clear with Egypt, but what was the situation, for example, in the Harappan civilization, little known to us? These guys were more practical, architectural megalomania was not typical of them, and the building material was more reliable - baked brick.
Reconstruction of a Harappan city
It seems that this was some kind of semi-utopian civilization of general welfare and prosperity, so they took care of their citizens: they paved roads, built artificial reservoirs, water supply and even sewerage were organized in the Harappan cities. True, from such luxury and comfort, citizens eventually became bored and degenerated. But if they had worked a little harder, building some kind of wall or pyramid, maybe they would have loved freedom more and held on to their property.
Harappan buildings. Ruins of Mohejo Daro
Raw brick was also used, but much less frequently. The climate in ancient times on the territory of what is now India was once different, much wetter, although now it is not particularly dry, so the raw material quickly spread. Brickwork they were held together with silty mortar, which was taken from the banks of local rivers.
Tower in Mohejo Daro
Lime was rarely used, only in the lower rows of masonry; the muddy mortar was not very strong and did not harden tightly, so if necessary, the building could be easily dismantled and the bricks could be reused. Interestingly, the Harappan builders used several different construction techniques, that is, they were very “advanced” for their time. Apart from the city walls and gates, nothing gigantic remained from the Harappans (or whatever they were called). There was nothing, nothing for the rulers to occupy the people with!
CHINA
But this message reached the Chinese rulers in time. They just occupied their citizens with such useful activities as the construction of the Great Wall of China, while the homes of the Chinese were very modest. Especially in comparison with the Wall, which is clearly visible even from space. The total length of the wall exceeds 5 thousand km. The walls are laid out in two rows, the outer parts are made of stone and brick, and the inside of the wall is filled with compacted clay, the total volume of which is about 180 million square meters. m.
The great Wall of China. View from space
If we talk about Chinese dwellings, then the housing of the emperors did not look like a giant palace, but like a village of wealthy peasants - so, they covered it with foil a little for the sake of force and surrounded it with a wall. Beautiful and quite large buildings began to be erected relatively recently, in recent centuries. It must be said that both the Chinese Wall and the walls of the palaces had a very utilitarian meaning - defensive. The empire constantly suffered from invasions of barbarian tribes from the North, and China itself was constantly torn apart by internal conflicts, so there was no way without walls.
Reconstruction of the ancient Chinese city of Linzi, 7th century BC
Beautiful Chinese palaces and temples with curved roof corners are an echo of the times when all buildings were made of wood, and that’s how they were built. In general, it is quite difficult to talk about any single architecture in China - the country is huge, with a heterogeneous topography, and lies in several climatic zones at once. They built from what was at hand: from bamboo huts on stilts in the water to caves in the rocks.
Reconstruction-museum of an ancient Chinese dwelling
It must be said that it was not only the Harappan citizens who were so literate that they came up with a water supply system. It was also in China; the Chinese used bamboo pipes to supply water. There was plumbing in both Ancient Egypt and Rome, and in the latter it was very advanced.
Modern home of a poor Chinese peasant in a deep province
Ancient cave city in China
How everything has something in common - the cave city in Petra, Jordan
... And also - a cave city in Chufut-Kale in Crimea
BABYLON
Babylonian Gate of the Goddess Ishtar in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin
Let's return to the brick. The Babylonians also used baked bricks. They have also made great progress in the art of building cladding. Everyone knows their beautiful images on a blue background, laid out from elegant glazed tiles. We also know about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, although we can hardly imagine what it really was.
Current ideas about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are very different: from quite traditional options...
...To the very unexpected. This is not a reconstruction, but a very real building in modern Japan.
It is clear that "Glory to Ishtar!" - this is sacred, but how did the simple Babylonians live, those who built and built a tower to the very sky, but did not finish it? Judging by the excavation materials, they lived closely and not particularly luxuriously. Like the Egyptians, and the Chinese, and the Harrapan guys.
Babylon
Ruins of Babylon, photo 1932
HITTES
We have also forgotten the Hittites. These were mainly built from stone, sometimes practically unprocessed, since they lived among the mountain ranges of Anatolia, there were even heaps of stone there. However, in the city of Karchemysh (XX-VIII centuries BC) buildings made of the same mud brick were discovered, albeit on stone foundations. The Hittites did not build large temples and tombs, but still some Cyclopean structures remained from them. For example, the famous Lion Gate. The fortress walls and towers were also quite massive - it was necessary to defend against restless neighbors. The stone blocks used for the walls were simply huge!
Lion Gate in the Hittite capital Hattusa.
To build living quarters, they used medium-sized stone and the aforementioned brick; the outside of all this beauty was coated with clay. Housing, as you may have guessed, like other nations, was usually quite small.
Ruins and partial reconstruction of Hattusa
Hattusa. Reconstruction.
So all peoples, it seems, lived the same way: in small houses without amenities and a TV, and in the historical memory of civilizations they were imprinted with buildings “for protection” and “for the idea.” This topic is far from exhausted, so we’ll continue later somehow.
KNOW YOUR MEASURE. Northern tradition of house building
Interview with the master of wooden architecture Igor Tyulenev, who creates houses according to the principles of old principles of house building and fathom proportioning. The interview was conducted specifically for readers of the Pashkovka newspaper.
“The foundations of our Russian, Northern Tradition found a deep response in my heart,” shares Igor Tyulenev. – Gradually I learned to perceive, understand and pass on the traditions of house building. And I continue to study. In Rus', osmerik or shesterik (a house with eight or six (like a honeycomb in a beehive) corners) was installed everywhere. And this is directly related to the harmony of the ascending and descending flows of power: The Earthly and Heavenly Yari are alive (as it is now fashionable to call these flows - Yin and Yang, and the Ancestors called them - the nature of the Father and Mother, male and female energy) with their flow in a spiral. The towers and huts were mostly round in shape. Everything in a house building has a certain importance, and the form is no exception.
For example, try, without changing the shape of the vessel or product, to fill a bottle of mineral water with ripe apples. It won’t work, either you’ll have to break the bottle or finely chop the apples. A basket is better suited for storing apples; they will breathe easily in it and, accordingly, will be stored well, but no one would think of storing fresh honey or mature kvass in a wicker basket. That is, everything needs a proper container.
Life is Power, and the form is activated by that Power, and the house is the filling. For example, a “gasoline” car will not run on diesel fuel. Thus, a form may or may not be able to accommodate and perceive this or that energy or force. The well-known expression: “a house is a full cup” is now perceived as a house full of all kinds of “good” - things, furniture, but initially no one put such a meaning into this expression-wish. “A house is a full cup” is a house filled to the brim with harmoniously intertwined flows of Earthly and Heavenly power, which require a certain form for this; here the place where the house is placed is also decisive.
I repeat, gradually dwellings and other buildings acquired a geometrically more “simple” shape, becoming square and rectangular. At the intersection of the walls, a right angle is formed, but the Heavenly force tends to flow down and the Earthly one to rise. The Force, like water in a river, does not flow at a right angle, and therefore in the corners of today’s brick, stone and panel houses, “negativity” constantly accumulates, there the current of the Force is disrupted, without movement it “fades out”, the river turns into a swamp. A permanent minus point is formed in the corner. Subsequently, to avoid this process in wooden, already square houses, they began to cut the walls, thus giving rounding to the corners and allowing the flow of Power to flow.
– Why was wood preferred? building material?
– The trunk of a tree is essentially a revolving (coil, spiral, and Vita – Life) structure of tubular systems, since the entire trunk from the butt to the top is penetrated by bellies - channels through which, while the tree grows, sap flows - from the roots up the trunk , and materialized sunlight from the leaves of the crown - also along the bellies, spreading throughout the entire tree. Depending on the purpose of the tree: to receive or give out force, its trunk in the process of growth acquired a left-sided or right-sided twist, the so-called twist, and because of this, the felled log became “right” or “left”.
Previously, huts were cut by combining these logs proportionally, or consciously giving the structure certain qualities, placing predominantly right-handed or left-handed twisted logs into the frame. Thanks to the method of laying logs in rows in a log house (butt - top), a continuous flow of Zhiva and Yari in a spiral was achieved. In the cups (places of cutting), the poles of energy change, a phase transition of 90 degrees takes place - plus to minus, the Force of the Father “becomes”, filled with the Force of the Mother, and vice versa. But this only happens if the core, the core of the tree, is not damaged. That's why earlier at home and chopped into the okhryap - into the lower bowl. Today, experts criticize this method of cutting, saying that moisture accumulates in the lower bowl, and the wood in the log house is more susceptible to rotting, and they offer log houses cut into a hook - into the upper bowl. At the same time, they avoid making fat-tailed locks, not realizing that the core of the tree damaged in the log house in this case is a disservice to the residents of such houses.
The roof closes the entire contour of the house. And here the angle of the roof, or rather the corners, already matters, since there are many options for them in the canon of house building. They built a house with one corner of the roof, and a barn with another... Nowadays, few people think about this, approaching this issue from the concepts of aesthetics, or the possibilities of the material, nothing more. The house is designed to accommodate Life with certain qualities. Thus, it is necessary to take into account the location of the installation (have you heard the expression “a house must be placed on a stone”, this is because the current of power intersects differently). Do not build houses on sand, not only because it can collapse, but also because sand is not a conductor, there will be no strength in such a house.
You also need to take into account the shape of the house, the angle of the roof, as well as the material from which the house is built, and then the house can be given any properties - Healing House, Ritual House, Residential House. All structures and houses must have 100% compliance with Form and Content.
By the way, the stove in a house, like its engine, must necessarily rest on load-bearing floor beams, and not on an independent foundation - as is often customary now. Depending on how the stove is positioned in the house in relation to the entrance, to the right or to the left of it, the stove can be Spinner or Unspinner, respectively. So in your house, either everything is “rushing”, going well, or not so well... We can and should talk about the magic of the Russian stove separately, its ability to Generate bread, warm the house and keep the Fire of the hearth is priceless in itself.
– How were houses built in the old days?
- In the old days, houses were built by the whole Relatives, and often by the whole world, the term was - help, everyone got together and built it together. The ovens were made of adobe, and only virgin girls and boys were invited to “beat” the ovens; what strength they put into the oven! “In your own home, even the walls help” - that’s what they say. Since we are talking about home as a concept, about the essence of its purpose, so to speak, I can say it more simply: Home is a place of Power that you create artificially. Home is an instrument of evolution given by Rod. Your home, a universal tool with which you can do everything! This house has now been built, but we don’t know how to interact with it. I mean with the house itself, with its space.
Of course, in order for the house to truly become yours, you must build it yourself, or at least take maximum part in its construction. You need to structure it for yourself, in the process of birthing a house, water it, where with your salty sweat, and maybe where you get hurt with a little blood, the more valuable it will become for you, the more of your strength you put into it, into your home. Previously, at least three generations of relatives lived in one hut: Father, Mother, Grandfather and Grandmother, and children. Knowledge was passed on naturally. There was a continuity of knowledge transfer, from grandfather and father to grandson and son.
– Have you heard that there used to be a concept of “Construction victim”?
- Yes it is. Before cutting down a tree, gifts were brought to each tree and permission to cut down was directly asked from each tree. Promising him continued existence in a new form, in the form of Dwelling. And if the tree gave such permission, then it experienced a state of supreme joy. As a result of the action of such a higher emotion, the entire molecular structure of the wood changed, and now it was friendly to humans. In the new incarnation there is a new measure, this expression is equal to everyone. A tree cut down in this state will imprint it forever in its body, and a house built from such a log will constantly share this state of joy with the residents. It will also protect them from all misfortunes.
Now almost no one does this. But what I want to say: the attitude of a person himself towards home, towards Life can change everything down to the atomic level. It is very important what is inside you, in what mood you live and act. Even a house built from railroad sleepers impregnated with creosote can become a source of positive power if a bright person full of the Joy of Life lives in it...
House, Family Estate as an artifact.
The estate is not only a hedge, a garden, a vegetable garden, a forest, a clearing, a pond, but also a variety of buildings - a house, a storage room, a barn, a bathhouse, a gazebo.
Nature and man himself should be the model and measure for the structures created on the estate. Then all the buildings will be harmonious and beautiful, life will flow in them as beneficially as possible for the psyche and health, and it will become possible to discover and realize many of the abilities inherent in a person.
Today in architecture there are:
1. Estates and houses built to living dimensions.
These houses have the properties of all living beings - they were created taking into account the golden ratio and the so-called wurf coefficients. Wurf is a three-member division of the human body (it will be discussed in more detail below). This includes houses created using the ancient Russian fathom system. This is how houses are built for a comfortable and pleasant life.
Basic fathoms in meters:
Policeman 2,848
Large 2,584
Great 2,440
Greek 2,304
Breech 2.176
Pharaoh 2,091
Piletsky 2.055
Tsarskaya 1.974
Church 1,864
Narodnaya 1,760
Chernyaeva 1,691
Egyptian 1,663
Masonry 1,597
Simple 1,508
Small 1.424
Minor 1.345
All 16 fixed fathoms, according to which it is proposed to design structures, are calculated based on the size of historical buildings - cultural monuments. Fathoms increase in accordance with the harmony coefficient of the musical series - 1.059.
I would like to emphasize that fathoms are a tool for creating volume, and not just a unit of measurement of length. You can make a fathom from any size.
Harmonious dimensions give buildings and structures the following properties:
1. Beauty;
2. Durability;
3. Durability;
4. Excellent acoustics;
5. Health benefits for people;
6. Harmonization of space.
Before the introduction of design by meters, not only houses, but also parks and cities were created by fathoms; the name of one of the fathoms reminds us of this - gorodovaya.
The land on the estate varied in tithes - 1 tithe - 109 acres. One tithe contains 2400 square fathoms. 4,548 sq. m – square fathom.
2.848x1.597=4.548 sq. m;
2.548x1.76=4.548 sq. m;
2.44x1.864=4.548 sq. m;
2.304x1.974=4.548 sq. m;
2.176x2.090=4.548 sq. m;
1.508x2x1.508=4.548 sq. m;
When creating a house by fathoms, it is taken into account that in nature there are no identical figures - diversity pleases the eye and pacifies the psyche.
Amazing harvests were also noted on the ridges marked by fathoms.
A separate topic on the estate is the creation of a “living pond”, i.e. such a reservoir, where the water is self-purifying as much as possible (does not become overgrown), everything is favorable for the life of fish, crayfish and, at the request of the owners, for swimming. Of course, for the construction of a pond, it is important, first of all, to have a water source (source indicators are green grass, willow, alder), a clay bed, and the location of the banks along geodetic lines. And only then the pond is marked by fathoms.
The depth of the bottom should be different, and it is desirable that the reservoir be deeper in the north and shallower in the south. For convenience, it is possible to build 1 or 2 terraces deep into the pond, about 0.5 m wide, for planting aquatic plants, such as water lilies and reeds. It is advisable to extend the banks of the pond in the direction of the wind. The combination of natural shapes and geodetic lines is important. Thus, a pond in the shape of a shrimp or snake will not self-clean if built on a plain. But this form is perfect for a pond at the foot of a mountain or in a ravine.
Paths in the estate should not be straight. The energy moves in a tortuous way. A striking example is the streets of old Moscow. Standing at the beginning of such a street, you will not see its end - it is so crooked. It is necessary to follow nature, and there are no straight lines in it, especially parallel ones. The same goes for ridges. It is better when long ridges are arranged in the shape of a meander or snake.
2. Dead estates and houses.
These structures slow down natural processes, therefore, they are used to preserve inanimate products and bodies, such as refrigerators, storehouses, and crypts. Such houses are based on regular geometric shapes that are not found in nature - a square, a circle, an isosceles and equilateral triangle. The exception here is the hexagon - a honeycomb, a regular geometric figure, but alive.
Land is measured in squares - square meter, square weave, square hectare.
Ponds are created in the shape of regular geometric shapes, regardless of geodetic lines, cardinal directions and wind direction.
The paths are straight, turns at clear angles.
3. Other structures.
Not “living” and “dead” estates and houses. Such structures are created by amateurs or are intended for some unknown, cosmic purposes. These include new buildings and city apartments. The topic has not been studied, you can write a dissertation....
Used Books:
2. Seminar July 6-10 by Sepp Holzer in Krameterhof.
3. Website sazheni.ru
4. Forum http://forum.anastasia.ru/topic_47351_90.html
Justification for the use of fathoms
God created the World, and the Harmony of the World distantly reflects the perfection of God. God gave people reason and feelings capable of perceiving the Harmony of the World. Moreover, Harmony is inherent in Man himself. And Man can not only perceive, but also reproduce the Harmony of the World in his works.
Harmony is measurable. One of the measures of Harmony is the human measure - the fathom. By creating something fathom by sazhen, Man imparts Beauty and Harmony to his works. As much as it is natural for Man to live in nature created by God, so natural is it for Man to live and use creations that reflect this Harmony.
It is natural for a person to live in a harmonious environment created by himself. This so-called “cultural” environment. It is a secondary, artificially created habitat by Man. However, this secondary nature must also comply with the laws of Harmony and be favorable for humans. Such a correspondence can be ensured by the fathom.
The uniqueness of the Old Russian fathom system is that “there is fundamentally no single standard measurement unit for fathoms, and the measurement system itself is not Euclidean.
For many centuries, the lack of a unified standard did not hinder, and moreover, contributed to the construction of magnificent structures, aesthetically proportional to the nature, also because in ancient Russian architecture all divisions were three-part, notes in the book “Golden Fathoms” Ancient Rus'"A.F. Chernyaev.
For example, fingers, toes, arms (shoulder-forearm-hand), legs (thigh, lower leg, foot), etc., have a three-part structure. Moreover, a two-membered limb did not exist in nature.
The ratio of the 3 lengths makes up a proportion called wurf. Wurf values across the human body vary, averaging 1.31.
Moreover, the coefficient of the golden section squared, divided by two, is equal to the wurf. (1.618x1.618):2=1.31.
Currently, most architects in Russia have undeservedly forgotten the design methodology by fathoms and use the metric system.
Let's look at the history of the meter. The meter was first introduced in France in the 18th century and originally had two competing definitions:
Like the length of a pendulum with a half-period of swing at a latitude of 45° equal to 1 s (in modern units this length is equal to m).
As one forty-millionth of the Paris meridian (that is, one ten-millionth of the distance from the north pole to the equator along the surface of the earth's ellipsoid at the longitude of Paris).
The modern definition of the meter in terms of time and the speed of light was introduced in 1983:
A meter is the distance traveled by light in a vacuum in (1/299,792,458) seconds.
It turns out that the meter is an artificially derived unit of measurement, not directly related, and, accordingly, does not reflect the Harmony of the World and Man. Meter is a standard that forms a line. Fathoms are a natural measure for Man. They form a three-part (3 is a sacred number) system, according to which the area and volume are harmoniously formed.
Peter the Great, as D.S. writes. Merezhkovsky, in his work “Antichrist,” abolished the natural measures: fathom, finger, elbow, vershok, present in clothing, utensils and architecture, making them fixed in the Western manner. It was not for nothing that the meter was introduced in France and Russia during the revolutions. The destroyers knew why it was necessary to forget the wisdom and traditions of their ancestors, to destroy the roots...
Ancient people felt Harmony intuitively, without thinking about measurements. But the connection with God weakened, which is why rigidly fixed sizes of fathoms arose, and rules for constructing various structures according to fathoms appeared.
Our ancestors carefully preserved and passed on age-old wisdom and beauty, embodying them in the temples of Ancient Rus'. Life on estates and houses built by fathoms made it possible not to lose the feeling of the Harmony of the World and reminded Man of God.
Now we are visiting estates miraculously preserved after collectivization and urbanization. For example, in Moscow, near Red Square, there is the Romanov family estate, where now only the house-museum, “House of the Romanov Boyars,” remains. The house-museum and part of the estate of the artist Vasnetsov have been preserved in the former Troitsky Lane near the Sukharevskoye metro station.
On Novy Arbat, behind the high-rise buildings, a piece of the estate and the Lermontov family home are hidden. Everyone knows Boldino, the family estate of the great Russian poet Pushkin. A charming corner is the estate of the artist Polenov in Tarusa, where the museum is run by his descendants.
The family estate of the “father of Russian aviation”, the memorial house-museum and Zhukovsky’s estate are located in the village of Orekhovo, 30 km from Vladimir, on the Vladimir-Alexandrov highway. And there are many such examples.
The revival of ancient traditions of creating estates and estates will undoubtedly serve the socio-economic recovery and improvement of life in the country, the development of the spiritual, creative forces and abilities of new landowners.
Used Books:
- A. F. Chernyaev “Golden fathoms of Ancient Rus'”.
- Forum http://forum.anastasia.ru/topic_47351_90.html
- Wikipedia.
Variety of fathoms
Let's consider various options the use of fathoms in the design of a residential building. Common to all methods: when building a house by fathoms, the external dimensions of the house should have different dimensions along the 3 coordinate axes, and only even number fathoms. The space inside the house is planned in the same way, only an even number of half-fathoms, elbows, spans, pasterns or vershok is taken.
Details such as windows and doors rounded at the top, a high roof, various terraces and porches, asymmetrical elements and parts of the house make it original and memorable. A separate topic is decorating the house with carvings, the so-called “patterning”. This is a whole language of different figures, telling about the family living in the house. Furniture is made according to the size of the house and the owners. The color of the decoration complements the interior space of the house: curtains, carpets, paintings.
Design for 16 fixed fathoms
An even number of fathoms is laid out along the 3 axes, which must be different and not appear next to each other in the list.
1. Piletsky 2.055
2. Egyptian 1,663
3. Smaller 1.345
4. State-owned 2,176
5. Folk 1,760
6. Small 1.424
7. Greek 2,304
8. Church 1,864
9. Simple 1.508
10. Great 2,440
11. Tsarskaya 1,974
12. Masonry 1,597
13. Big 2,584
14. Pharaoh 2,091
15. Chernyaeva 1,691
16. Policewoman 2,848
So, the external dimensions of the house can be as follows: length - 6 church fathoms, height - 4 royal fathoms, width - 4 folk fathoms. If the house is round or polygonal, then the outer diameter is equal to an even number of fathoms, for example, 4 masonry fathoms.
Fathoms according to the owner's golden proportions.
It is proposed to take five consecutive numbers of the golden ratio 0.382/0.618/1/1.618/2.618. These coefficients must be multiplied by the height of the owner - the result is a series of fathoms proportional to his height. For example, with a height of 1.764 m, the scale will be as follows: 0.674/1.090/1.764/2.854/4.618 m. The specified series is successively multiplied by 2, 4, 8, 16... - a table is formed from which the sizes of individual fathoms are determined. The fathoms calculated by this method are divided into 2, 4, 8, 16, 32... parts, respectively. As a result, we obtain independent units: half fathoms, cubits, spans, pasterns, tops.
Types of “human” fathoms.
The most famous “human” fathoms:
- flywheel. This is the length of outstretched arms;
- height. Just the height of a person;
- oblique. The height of a person with his arm raised up.
Based on the specified fathoms, the house is designed taking into account the size of the owner and mistress. The external dimensions of the house are calculated according to the size of the owner, and the internal dimensions - according to the size of the owner. There is a hidden meaning here: such correspondence is intended to reflect the relationship between the roles of men and women in the family.
In conclusion, it should be noted that regardless of the units of length (distance can be measured in feet, meters or parrots), when designing by fathoms, we create a “living”, harmonious Human space for Love, creativity and relaxation.
Used Books:
1. A.F. Chernyaev “Golden fathoms of Ancient Rus'”.
Feedback from the owner of a house built according to the Old Russian fathom system about her house
My house is really built according to Russian fathoms. But only outside. Inside - that’s how it happened. It’s comfortable to live in it, we don’t want to leave it - we perceive it as a living being, very friendly and cheerful.
Is it the reason for this fathom, or the fact that it was built with Love by our like-minded person, very pure and kind person, with extensive construction experience – it’s hard to say.
Most often I hear the following words about my house: “how nice it is!” It seems small, but it seems not very, moderately tall, moderately wide, so strong - in a word - okay. But this, I think, is the merit of the fathoms.
It is pleasing to the eye with its proportions, and, of course, elegant (after all, we love it - so we dressed it up). Guests, coming in for a minute, do not leave for hours - they just sit on the steps or on the terrace. This is especially noticeable in children; the baby’s mother lowers him to the ground to go home, and he again climbs the stairs into the house - and is so happy.
Six months after the house was built, I attended Chernyaev’s seminar in Lipetsk. There I learned an important thing that everyone should take into account when building a house, even if the construction is not in fathoms.
The ceiling height in a stove-heated house should be as high as possible - superheated air rises up and hangs near the ceiling. If the ceilings are 3 meters (Chernyaev says 3.20 is better), then everything is fine. If it is lower, then our head is always in the discomfort zone.
Indeed, in heating season my son couldn't sleep upstairs bunk bed(the height of our ceilings is 2.5 meters) - it’s very hot and stuffy up there.
I am for the settlers’ houses to be solid, beautiful and in good order. Extra costs“for beauty” pay off handsomely - how many times does my
