Celebrating the versatility of timber

There is a renaissance taking place in the use of timber for construction and building envelopes.  SiOO:X is playing an increasing role in this renaissance using silicon technology to modify and improve the properties of the wood and protect the substrate. One of the latest examples is a stunning bespoke home, almost completely clad in wood: Ferry house.

• Location: Salisbury
• Year: 2023
• Architect: AR Design Studio
• Type of Wood: SILA select Siberian larch
• Type of SiOO:X: SiOO:X Panel-Colours Mid-grey
• Photography: Martin Gardner – www.martingardner.com

Timber cladding has been used since historical times as a locally available, affordable weather protection option. Nowadays, interest in timber cladding is again increasing because of ecological reasons as well as naturalistic viewpoints.

Many architectural designs of the award-winning AR Design Studio include timber as building frame, external cladding and other innovative applications. One of their latest bespoke projects is the Ferry House near Salisbury, where walls and roof look like they were made of one piece – thanks to an evenly weathered Siberian larch-cladding.

The architect’s intention is clear: Having the same material on the roof and walls reinforces the carved sculptural geometry of the house. While the driftwood-colour of the SiOO:X-coating settles the house into its verdant wooded location.

The Ferry House comprises 3 wings, each with a pitched roof which is wider and taller at the ends than in the centre. From the front the house appears as a single story pavilion. At the rear the ground slopes away to reveal a lower ground floor emerging from the ground. The wings crank to afford views up and down the panoramic landscape.

Sustainability was a key consideration in the design and construction of the house. The house is orientated to benefit from solar gains during the winter, with the recessed balcony providing solar shading in the summer months. Pre weathering the timber ensures that the cladding does not weather at different rates, giving a uniform weathering across the whole house.

The uniform finish of the Siberian larch cladding was achieved by factory coating the timber with SiOO:X Mid-grey to ensure that all elevations and particularly covered areas, would adopt a consistent colour and avoid unsightly differential weathering. For maximum penetration and coverage of SiOO:X, a Microtex surface finish was applied before the coating.

Microtex is a fibrous surface finish, enhancing the rough-sawn board with small incisions and creating the fibrous appearance. This is done to provide optimal and long-lasting performance of SiOO:X coatings when applied to profiled SILA Select® Siberian Larch.