Iðan Education Centre regularly holds courses in collaboration with Fornverk in Hafnir. Their aim is to share the specialised knowledge needed to preserve Iceland's architectural heritage, while also demonstrating that old craft traditions are still fully relevant today.
The course in traditional timber framing is based on centuries-old building methods and is held under the guidance of Snædís Traustadóttir, a master carpenter and expert in traditional timber framing and timber house construction.
A diverse group of students
“An incredibly diverse group of people attend the courses,” says Snædís. “There are master carpenters who intend to maintain turf houses or even build new ones. But then there are also ordinary people who have never built anything before, who simply found the course interesting and wanted to give it a try.”
She emphasizes that no prior experience is necessary.
“You don’t need any knowledge or experience in carpentry. The tasks involved in building a house frame like this are so varied that everyone gets a task suited to their own knowledge and ability.”
Why do people attend a timber framing course?
“The people who come all have one thing in common: they are interested in turf houses and turf house construction. They may not know much beforehand but are curious about how this old building tradition came to be and how it works.”
According to her, the course is not only intended for those who want to learn carpentry but also for those who want to understand the cultural heritage embodied in Icelandic turf houses.
In the course, participants work on erecting a house frame using traditional methods.
“We make timber joints and assemblies according to the rules of the craft. Driftwood is split with wedges, tenons and mortises are carved, material is sawn to length with large timber saws, and then we raise the house frame at the end of the course.”
This way, participants get to know both the tools and the thinking behind the construction before modern technology took over.
Almost no material went to waste
Snædís says there is much that modern society can learn from this.
“These old house frames make use of the material available at any given time, and every single piece of wood is used to the fullest. There is almost no material that cannot be used for something.”
This requires the craftsperson to read the material.
“You have to look at every single log and see what characterizes it and how it can be used. So we are constantly assessing the properties of the timber we are working with.”
The houses tell the story of the people who built them
Old house frames are not just structures but also sources of information about the society that built them.
“We can learn what our ancestors considered important in their houses, what tools they used, and what materials were available in each location. All of this tells us a lot about the circumstances of the people who built the houses.”
Why is it important to preserve this old craftsmanship?
“It is absolutely essential to maintain traditional craft knowledge if we want to preserve the old turf houses. It’s not possible to maintain old houses if we don’t know how they were built.”
She says that when modern methods are applied to old houses, the unique features that make them special are often lost.
“You could say that every single house has its own distinct fingerprint that the craftspeople left on it with their knowledge, tools, and use of tools. If we don’t respect that fingerprint and maintain it, we lose part of the houses' significance.”