Half-Timber and Castles

Most of us associate castles with solid, thick, stone walls and minimal exterior decoration; but there are a wide variety of buildings that bear the description of "castle" (as some of the buildings on this or Castle DuPont's site will prove). One of the ways to add to your castle's height without having to raise stone multiple stories is to build the upper floors in half-timber style. Many European castles use this method in some of the buildings, though obviously half-timber construction is not as resistant to attack as pure stone would be. Aesthetically speaking, the half-timber look may be more pleasing to the eye, depending on your preferences. It may be even more affordable than stone would be to the prospective owner-builder. While I couldn't find any "how-to" articles on building in a true half-timber style, after a little thinking is seems entirely possible to build a solid first floor (whether it be stone, ICF or other material with a stone facade) and then the second floor could be standard stick framing or SIP. This would provide a lighter and easier to work with material to the home-builder, and the half-timber could be applied as a facade as one would apply stucco and window frames. The photo is of Kaiserburg. Wikipedia has some interesting information on timber framing, as well.