ABSTRACT
Fair-faced concrete structures from the middle of the 20th century, like the impressive brutalist buildings of the post-war period, are mostly considered the product of a totally industrialized process, planned in detail by engineers and realized accordingly by unskilled labor. However, the construction of the necessary formwork in timber was an accomplishment of carpentry craftsmanship well into the 1970s. Discussing the interconnected transfer of technology, knowledge and expertise, this paper examines the transmission of traditional skills in carpentry to timber formwork construction in the post-war period in Germany. Through analyzing longstanding technical manuals, this assesses the mostly unrecognized means of timber formwork constructions.
