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WIEHAG_AUSTRIA, THE TIMBER ENGINEERING HISTORY, SINCE 1849
With our history of around 174 years, we have significantly influenced the development of timber engineering. Today we are still pioneers in the timber construction industry, setting the tone in terms of engineering expertise, pioneering buildings and sustainability. Timber engineering experience for generations. Since 1849, the Wiesner family has been continuously involved in timber construction, now in the 5th generation.
Master carpenter, Josef Wiesner, was the founder. He registered as a member of the carpenters’ guild in May 1849 in Altheim, Upper Austria. A globally active timber construction company emerges from a workshop and an open-air joinery. Triangle brace construction. It starts with the license for the production of DSB trusses, which is acquired in 1953. A DSB truss is a timber frame construction. With this new technique, not only can material be saved, but also greater spans can be achieved. Already in 1957 the hundredth roof truss of Wiehag can be celebrated. Early pioneering buildings that point to the future. Austria Pavilion at the New York World's Fair – a pioneering achievement in prefabrication (1964) Austrian star architect Gustav Peichl wins the competition to construct this exhibition building with his design. "The fact that timber has been a main material of domestic architecture for centuries and is today a valuable export commodity for Austria" proved to be an advantage even then. In addition to that came the fact that timber as a building material is ideal for prefabrication, thanks to WIEHAG engineering. The individual parts of the pavilion, planned according to the modular principle, were prefabricated at Wiehag in Altheim and assembled on site in New York. The largest glued laminated timber hall in Europe. At the time, construction of the arched-girder hall with a span of almost 100 m represented an incredible technical and organizational achievement. Never before had such a large timber structure been designed for such a high snow load, namely 200 kg/m². The individual glued laminated timber beams were manufactured at the factory in a length of 55.5 m, dismantled into three parts for transport by rail, and then reunited on the building site using a patented assembly joint. The hall is not only unreservedly admired by the general public; it is also described by timber construction experts, both national and international, as a pioneering achievement in glued laminated timber construction.
For more information contact Eng. Johannes Rebhahn, Head of Sales Timber Project Int’l:
