In their series Framework Houses (German: Fachwerkhäuser des Siegener Industriegebietes), Bernd and Hilla Becher documented half-timbered structures in the industrial region of Siegen, Germany, between 1959 and 1978. The project meticulously captures houses built predominantly between 1870 and 1914, portraying them as emblematic artifacts of industrial and architectural history.
Emerging during a period marked by the decline of heavy industry in Western Europe, Framework Houses reflects the Bechers' awareness of a vanishing cultural and economic landscape. To conserve wood for iron smelting, an 18th-century law restricted its use in construction, compelling builders in the Siegen region to adopt a functional half-timbered design that defined the area’s architectural identity.
The Bechers approached these buildings as "anonymous sculptures", emphasizing their inherent aesthetic value derived from functional necessity rather than ornamentation. By adopting a systematic, comparative methodology—typologies—they invited viewers to analyze similarities and differences across various structures. This technique underscored the delicate interplay between form, function, and regional tradition, situating their work between documentary photography and conceptual art. While Framework Houses was one of the earliest and most localized expressions of this approach, the typological method became a defining characteristic of their broader practice across a wide range of industrial structures.
Aesthetically, the images in Framework Houses are characterized by a rigorous uniformity. Compositions are frontal and centrally aligned, captured with large-format cameras to ensure straight lines and exact perspectives. The black-and-white palette amplifies structural clarity, removing the distraction of color and enhancing the viewer's focus on architectural detail. Photographed under consistently neutral lighting conditions, typically on overcast days, the houses are presented in a detached, objective manner, emphasizing clarity and comparative analysis rather than emotional resonance.
The series has been widely exhibited—from its appearance in New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape (George Eastman House, 1975) to the retrospective Bernd & Hilla Becher (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022). A significant group of 13 typologies (147 views) is held by the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, underscoring the project’s lasting importance in architectural and documentary photography.
