A Journey of Time
There is something exceptional about the Kooyong Rd residence in Melbourne, and timber plays a major role. We've waited a while to get access to this clever combination of old and new projects, but as you will see, Matt Gibson Architects have produced a house that celebrates the nuances of both. And the use of timber as the predominant material made possible the "exciting and the exceptional". Read the full story here.
Bridging of Two Worlds
This beautifully detailed holiday home high in the Cascade Mountains of the US Northwest was briefed as "a small house able to accommodate up to 15 people". The way in which DeForest Architects of Seattle dealt with the clients' small-but-large expectations is in some respects a 'secret'. But if you click here, all will be revealed.
Armada House
Let's get straight down to it: this huge home is a timber tour de force. It also happens to have been judged the best custom home built in Canada in 2011. Architect Keith Baker specifies wood in almost every house he designs - and with so much Douglas fir and cedar around, his clients rarely require much encouragement. Read more here.
Expensive Red Herring?
Our international forest industry analyst Rupert Oliver from the UK has prepared a special report addressing the question: is certification an increasingly expensive public relations exercise, or a must-have tool for business? Executives across a broad spectrum of the international wood industry are agreed there is no longer any debate about the need to certify, and that operators failing to move down that route will be consigned to the history books. But the hard work is still to be done. The UN Timber Committee's latest annual review of global forest certification developments concludes that roundwood from certified forests totalled 447 million m3 in 2010 - a huge volume, but still only about 25% of the world's total industrial roundwood supply, and a slight decline compared with 2009. Read the full story here.
And there is so much more good timber design from Australasia and around the world. Just click this link to the free e-zine:
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Christmas and New Year best wishes
timber+DESIGN International