News - 04/05/09
Our favourite timber buildings
New Zealand has a heritage of fine wooden buildings, ranging from the Treaty House at Waitangi, to the Old Government Buildings in Wellington (completed in 1876 and said to be the second largest wooden building in the world) to the elegant old wooden palaces of Fendalton, Heretaunga and Remuera. Then there are the more recent buildings that have shown how timber tradition can support contemporary architectural style and innovation.
In each issue of our newsletter, we’ll feature a favourite wooden building, starting with the stylish Jenkin timber weatherboard house that features in our advertising.
The beachfront house is located just north of Auckland, on the Whangaparoa Peninsula. The owners started to plan their new house, just as the leaky homes problems were starting to emerge. They decided they wanted a house built using traditional building craft and materials.
“After discussion with our architect Linda Clapham, and builder Gus Gager, we decided to use timber weatherboards ” the owner says. The performance of timber cladding was appealing, but timber also worked from a design perspective.
“We wanted something that was sympathetic to the location, that was outward looking, and that was timeless. We didn’t want something that could immediately be identified as being built in a particular decade.”
The final design achieved their brief and more, the owner says. It contains some elements of the traditional New Zealand wooden beach bach, combined with some of the style of the elegant beach houses seen on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod.
It attracts a lot of admiration and interest from passers-by.
For builder Gus Gager, the Jenkin timber weatherboard made it easy to achieve the high level of detailing required in the plans.
“It was very good to work with, very straight and true,” Gus says.
The owners of this beautiful home are there for the long-term, so if you want to enjoy that timeless timber look and performance our Tru-Pine and our A-lign cladding system make timber an easy choice, for architect, builder, and home owner.
Do you have a favourite wooden building? Send a photo of your favourite, and your contact details, to info@jenkin.co.nz.