Practical Course 1 & 2

Joy in working with wood
There is no denying and it cannot be overlooked. The industrial influences our thinking and governs our doing in construction. Standardisation, premanufacturing and digitalisation are the keywords that we encounter on a daily basis. We take it for granted, that construction itself and with timber in particular is solely understood as an assembly process of industrially (pre-)fabricated timber products and elements. However, beside this work only being governed by efficiency, we ignore the cultural meaning of our doing.
Because of that it seems more than necessary to shift our focus also to the craftsmanship of carpentry. Construction is still an analogous task and always demanded the mentioned craftsmanship. And exactly that is the content of Practical Course 1 and 2. Of course, these can only be seen as an introduction to the basics of the handicraft of the carpenter. But only through the own doing one is able to develop an appreciation for these craftsmanships. 

Practical Course 1 [208.454 | 1,5 SE | 2,0 ECTS] [Carpentry]
In the scope of Practical Course 1 the students get to know the craftsmanship of the carpenter. In cooperation with the Landesinnung Holzbau Steiermark and the Landesberufschule (LBS) Murau the students have the possibility to educate themselves in the usage with the tools and machines of the carpenter. After an introduction the students get to manufacture a small, yet sophisticated object as a team and under the supervision of two carpentry masters and teachers of the LBS Murau. 

Practical Course 1 - 2023 [Course supervision: M. Gstettner, G. Schickhofer] | two-week block from 27. February to 10. March 2023:
Content supervision [LBS Murau]: ZM R. Schweiger, ZM G. Guster
Objekt'23: "reading-pavillon in larch" [according to plans of a survey and analysis of a pavillon built in 1913] 

Practical Course 2 [208.551 | 1,5 SE | 2,0 ECTS] [Furniture]
Already in SS 2022 the adaption and expansion of the wood workshop at the Institute of Timber Engineering and Wood Technology took place under supervision of TM Ing. B. Heissenberger and the assistance of DI M. Gstettner and P. Schickhofer, BA. Five workplaces equipped with european and japanese tools - four more will be added - are now available for the students interested in craftsmanship.

Glimpse of the course first held in WS 2022|23:
After an introduction to the "correct" handling of the tools of the carpenter, the students were able to show their skills. Surprisingly quick the crafting skills that are probably lying in each one of us showed and with the joy of the own doing increasing on a daily basis the participants showed their craftsmanship on different workpieces. The "assistant's piece" - a casket - served as the worthy close of these two intense weeks in our newly equipped wood workshop. 

Practical Course 2 - 2023 [Course supervision: G. Schickhofer] | two-week block from 6. februaryto 17. February 2023:
Content supervision [OE_208]: TM B. Heissenberger [assistance: M. Gstettner]
Objekt'23: "casket in spruce" [according to plans for the assistant's piece of the carpenter]