IACES visits "Bruno Kaiser" in the black forest

Me and my wood, me and my wood... (translation of a german song) this might have been on the minds of some of you during our guided tour of Bruno Kaiser.

With 65 employees, Bruno Kaiser is one of the largest timber construction companies in the Black Forest on the border with Switzerland. And so we had to set off at 7 o'clock in the morning to arrive in Waldshut-Tiengen on time. Mr. Kudermann from Bruno Kaiser greeted us there.

The first stop on our six-hour tour was three apartment buildings - made of wood, of course - planned and built by Bruno Kaiser. Two of them were already finished, so we were able to admire the finished product before moving on to the shell. Mr. Kudermann not only showed us around, but also explained many details of timber construction and its advantages and disadvantages. We were able to proudly apply the knowledge we had just gained at university, for example about fire protection. One interesting aspect is that the company takes great care to build in an environmentally friendly way, for example when choosing insulation materials.

After we had taken a close look at the houses in Waldshut-Tiengen, we went on to Bernau in the Black Forest. This is where the factory where all the prefabricated timber parts are made is located. In the newly built huge hall, we were able to see how the individual pieces of wood are cut and assembled so that they still have the dimensions of a truck and can be transported afterwards. From the large, noisy hall, we continued on to a lunch break with sandwiches and cold drinks in the offices. While we fortified ourselves with these, Mr. Kudermann explained the wall constructions we had seen using models.

However, Bruno Kaiser is not only responsible for the construction work, but also for the planning. One of the master carpenters showed us how he uses a program to feed into the computer how the individual parts need to be cut. This data is then transferred to the sawing machine. With a timber frame, that's a lot of wooden parts!

In a neighboring building, the people responsible for the more creative part are working on the design. During this visit, we were also able to take a brief look at the joinery, where stairs and other more delicate items are made.

Finally, Mr. Kudermann accompanied us to Lörrach, 50 minutes away. The largest project currently underway there has just been completed: a five-storey apartment building made of wood. With this number of storeys, it is still one of the major exceptions in Germany as far as timber construction is concerned. Unfortunately, we were only able to see it from the outside.

We finally said goodbye here and thanked them once again for an interesting and very detailed tour. We will definitely be back!

Text: Felicitas Breer