Westmere House - Auckland, New Zealand
Abodo Vulcan eco-timber cladding and screening in deep black Protector - Nero create a modern look for this renovated bungalow.
With the extension and renovation of a 1940s brick bungalow in Westmere, Jon Smith and the team at Matter Architects have created a low-maintenance, light-filled and spacious home for a family of five.
The original home included a 2009 addition of a garage with bedroom above, which had the appearance of being tacked on without much thought. The homeowners, with three young daughters, wanted a cohesive and modern look with more space and better connections with the pool and garden.
To achieve this without losing any of the garden, the architectural team looked upwards rather than out. They removed the roofs of the two structures and created a new roof enveloping both. This leads to the house having another level and also works to flood the lower levels in natural daylight, which enters through skylights and double height voids.
The resulting home fronts the street at three levels with the exterior clad in Abodo Vulcan Cladding in a deep black (Protector - Nero), creating a contemporary aesthetic that is strikingly juxtaposed against its more traditionally styled neighbours. Abodo Vulcan Screening adds to the clean lines of the home while also ensuring privacy.
The choice to use Abodo timber lowers the need for maintenance on the cladding, difficult on a building of this height. Abodo timbers undergo a thermal modification process that increases the durability and stability of the products. This is especially important for exterior claddings, which can be subject to many different kinds of weather events and climates throughout New Zealand.
When using black substrates, this stability becomes paramount as darker coloured wood can warp and twist easily with changing temperatures. This cladding is finished in Protector - Nero, which is created using a mix of small and large particles of carbon black pigment. The smaller particles penetrate deep into the timber while the larger stay near the surface, which along with the thermal modification process, increases the longevity - and good looks - of the deep black finish.
Jon Smith and the team at Matter Architects have created a low-maintenance, light-filled and spacious home for Lucy's family of five.
Jon says “This home is about family and playful spaces, wrapped in a simple form, made up of beautiful small details – including Abodo’s innovative, sustainable timber which clads the home”.
