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combles hourdés en fonte et en fer

English translation: roofs FILLED with cast iron and steel

10:56 Aug 8, 2011
French to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Architecture
French term or phrase: combles hourdés en fonte et en fer
I am having some trouble with one or two terms in a book on architectural styles. This phrase appears in a section discussing how architectural styles have emerged out of traditional functional buildings The sentence is as follows:

Après le mélange du bois, de la pierre et des métaux aux effets inattendus, les combles hourdés en fonte et en fer, qui soutenant de légères feuilles métalliques, recouraient d'abord de grands édifices, donnèrent le modèle d'arches immenses en fer.

I can't visualize it. This is as far as I've got with my own attempt:

Wood, stone and metals were used together with unexpected effects ( ?Après le mélange du bois, de la pierre et des métaux aux effets inattendus, ?) and iron and cast iron eaves (?combles hourdés en fonte et en fer?) supporting lightweight sheets of metal, which had originally been used to roof large buildings, provided a model for huge iron arches.
Carol Sykes
Belgium
Local time: 14:11
English translation:roofs FILLED with cast iron and steel
Explanation:
hourdé means that it is not an open structure of beams and rafters decked with boarding and finally with sheet metal, but a structure of steel/cast-iron members with infilling (plaster, mortar, brick, etc.) between them, forming a "solid" composite "shell". Similar in a way to the half-timbered construction of our nomadic Viking ancestors who, as the the originators of the Swedish flatpack furniture concept, took knocked-down timber hus framing in their longboats, and when it came time to winter over somewhere, pinned the structures together and filled the gaps with whatever came to hand (turf, stone, wood, etc.). The walls, that is. I imagine THEIR roofs were thatch or sails off the boats.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-08-08 14:07:10 GMT)
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Note that while les combles refers to the space beneath a roof, un comble is the superstructure d'un bâtiment, qui comprend sa charpente et sa couverture. Of course les combles could be both "roofs" (plural) and "roof space(s)" (singular or plural), depending on how it is used.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-08-08 14:31:40 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Ooops, I was in too much of a hurry. Not only should that be "iron", not "steel", but I've given the impression that the filling consists of iron. "Iron-framed roof structures with infilling" would be better.
Selected response from:

Bourth (X)
Local time: 14:11
Grading comment
Many thanks. The explanation was very useful as it helped me visualize it.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4roofs FILLED with cast iron and steel
Bourth (X)
4iron and steel roof structures
B D Finch
4roof-spaces incorporating cast- and wrought-iron
kashew


  

Answers


43 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
iron and steel roof structures


Explanation:
You could add "cast iron", but it is included in the above. Note that "fer" can often be used to include both iron and steel and many of these roofs would have used steel.

B D Finch
France
Local time: 14:11
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 163
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
roof-spaces incorporating cast- and wrought-iron


Explanation:
*

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 heures (2011-08-08 13:31:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Assuming this is the pre-steel epoch.

kashew
France
Local time: 14:11
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 99
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
roofs FILLED with cast iron and steel


Explanation:
hourdé means that it is not an open structure of beams and rafters decked with boarding and finally with sheet metal, but a structure of steel/cast-iron members with infilling (plaster, mortar, brick, etc.) between them, forming a "solid" composite "shell". Similar in a way to the half-timbered construction of our nomadic Viking ancestors who, as the the originators of the Swedish flatpack furniture concept, took knocked-down timber hus framing in their longboats, and when it came time to winter over somewhere, pinned the structures together and filled the gaps with whatever came to hand (turf, stone, wood, etc.). The walls, that is. I imagine THEIR roofs were thatch or sails off the boats.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2011-08-08 14:07:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Note that while les combles refers to the space beneath a roof, un comble is the superstructure d'un bâtiment, qui comprend sa charpente et sa couverture. Of course les combles could be both "roofs" (plural) and "roof space(s)" (singular or plural), depending on how it is used.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2011-08-08 14:31:40 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Ooops, I was in too much of a hurry. Not only should that be "iron", not "steel", but I've given the impression that the filling consists of iron. "Iron-framed roof structures with infilling" would be better.

Bourth (X)
Local time: 14:11
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 539
Grading comment
Many thanks. The explanation was very useful as it helped me visualize it.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tony M: Exactly! Though isn't this a bit early for actual steel, Alex?
14 mins
  -> Oops! Indeed, it's fer, not acier.
agree  Johannes Gleim: Do we talk about mansard roofs, filled roughly with any material?
2 hrs
agree  Helen Shiner: with your later comments
3 hrs
agree  piazza d
8 hrs
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