Black timber

Located in a historic lakeside village in Berlin, this Wooden House designed by Transstruktura occupies a waterfront plot defined by mature trees and expansive views. Conceived as a compact cubic volume, the house presents a restrained architectural language that balances visual clarity with environmental responsiveness. The black timber exterior allows the dwelling to register as a distinct object within the landscape, while the use of natural materials ensures that it remains aligned with its surroundings. Klemens Renner The project’s sustainability strategy is rooted in passive environmental control, timber construction, and on-site energy generation, demonstrating how a modest residential building can achieve high levels of... More

The new fire station for Wegberg has a wooden construction and Marugame cladding thanks to the design of Scheidt Kasprusch Architekten! The reasons for a wooden construction are because of its beauty, sustainability and energy efficiency. Constantin Meyer Fotografie Designed as a passive house, the fire station focuses on the sustainable use of materials and resources. A high ecological standard is ensured by reusable and recyclable building materials and energy-optimised equipment. Constantin Meyer Fotografie Finally, economic quality is largely ensured by low-maintenance components and materials, including the Marugame cladding. Constantin Meyer Fotografie More

A modern biophilic country house that harmoniously blends nature, is designed to offer its residents a deep sense of well-being and connection with the environment. The house was designed by Steven van Leeuwen of ORGA architect and landscape designer Nico Wissing in such a way that natural materials and organic forms can be seen everywhere, both inside and outside. Wood is one of these natural materials. Sustainable Marugame boards from Zwarthout | Shou Sugi Ban are used to cover the walls at the back side of the house and used as elegant elements in the design. The refined scale structure and silvery glow match beautifully with the Fraké wood façade parts, terraces, balustrades and the undersides of roofs. Photos commissio... More

This extension was designed to add a third bedroom, bathroom, ensuite and WIR to the Master Bedroom. The raked internal ceilings elevate the internal spaces and the central courtyard provides filtered light to the bedrooms and bathroom. It's also an exercise in zoning, providing a private retreat for 2 growing teenage boys. This house demonstrates that you don't need a large house for a growing family, just well thought out spaces and planning.  Dave Kulezsa This compact addition is defined externally by a pitch roof using the charred timber cladding (Shou Sugi Ban) and the internal courtyard is expressed in a natural timber finish which extends to the interior finishes using timber framed windows and timber floors. Via the bedro... More

CLIENT BRIEF Eliza House is located in an enviable neighbourhood pocket of Black Rock; within 400m to picturesque Beach Road and walking distance to the Sandringham Beach Foreshore Reserve. The homeowners had a clear ambition of laying roots with their young family in this Bayside community and setting up their forever home. The previous dwelling was a Post-war double-fronted brick-veneered house which was part of the common building stock of its time and did not hold any heritage significance. The old house had familiar characteristics of its Post-war pedigree by way of low ceilings and an awkwardly laid out horse-shoe internal configuration, so the logical decision was made to take a knock-down/rebuild approach. Dave Kulesza The ow... More

Living in a wooded area calls for a house that has a harmonious relationship with nature.A house is subtly visible amid a wooded and hilly dune landscape. This is Villa S, a house nestled in a picturesque location that has allowed its residents to enjoy beautiful forest views and a calming forest scent since the 1960s. A place that never gets boring. RAU Architects transformed this house into a villa placing nature even more at the forefront, in line with the wishes of the resident family. To create more privacy from the street, the focus is shifted to the garden bordering the coniferous forest. The relationship to the surrounding environment becomes even more intense. Only the contours of the original house have been preserved. The new mo... More

Studley Park House attempts to balance large scale modern living with the optimism and ideals of the local modernist gems of the area. Structure, technology, and materials are pushed to their limits in an attempt to contrast the steep topography and native landscapes the area is famous for.   Confidently cantilevering out over the landscape to create the carport, the methodical straight lines accentuate the sloping topography allowing the inhabitants to exist with the trees became the inspiration.   The primary move was to anchor the building in to one corner of the site, balancing and cantilevering out to the other to allow vehicles to pass underneath. Pedestrian access is via a stair, hanging from the floating structure and... More

Chiaroscuro, translating to “light dark” in Italian, is the contrasting of light and shade to produce an artistic composition with dramatic and emotional impact. This technique inspired and guided the design language of Casa Chiaroscuro as we balanced natural light and dark surfaces to create voluminous and intimate spaces that have a calming effect. Derek Swalwell The clients engaged us to design a comfortable home that supports their young family and lifestyle now and into the future. They wanted spaces for being together, for independence and for hosting large gatherings. Their design brief – modern, minimal and beautiful – gave us the freedom to use colour and materials in a way we hadn’t seen before.... More

Our circular modular timber school Het Epos in Rotterdam is complete and fully operational. Both staff and pupils are very happy with the fresh yet cozy building and are making excellent use of the different spaces.   Het Epos primary school is an initiative of The Verre Bergen Foundation. This foundation aims to give back to the city of Rotterdam by setting up a new school in Zuidwijk, an area in the southern part of the city which is socioeconomically disadvantaged. In this innovative primary school teachers are given more allocated teaching time with students than the Dutch average, so they can better support the individual needs of the students.   SeARCH, together with builder De Groot Vroomshoop, has developed a new way o... More

CLIENT BRIEF To transform the one-bedroom/two-bathroom apartment into a chic and broody penthouse that was ultimately versatile, enabling the solo owner who travels frequently to host intimate dinner parties through to large gatherings, and accommodate visiting friends on occasion.   CONCEPT Coastal market conventions were completely flipped by not treating the walls with white paint (customarily drawing the gaze towards the harbour) and by refraining from designing the layout of the apartment to solely face the water. The interior experience is as equally rich and layered as the outside view. Dark hues including indigo walls are paired with decadent materials (including a rust and ochre-toned splashback and feature backdrop to the k... More

Two-storey extension to an existing property on the Warner Estate, made of charred black timber and concrete work surfaces - a fusion of modern industrial materials within a historic domestic setting.   This is a project for our clients, Harriett and Jeremy “Jez” Hindmarsh. Harriett is the Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing and Communications for AECOM, one of the largest multi-disciplinary architecture and design practices in the world. Jez is a former drummer with Swervedriver and now turned landscape designer. The Black Ridge house is an extension to an existing 3-bedroom Victorian terraced house forming part of the Warner Estate in Walthamstow. The existing homes built in that period were made one room deep... More

The New Mazda Headquarters seeks to create and incorporate the latest thinking in workplace design and flexible environments to achieve outstanding cultural and environmental design outcomes for the clients. The design subverts the metaphor of a seemingly bland, ‘typical’ black timber box. The focal point or heart is addressed by use of a ‘town square’ and ‘street’ that create a centre of gravity and activated line of sight that runs the length of the workspace. The unique requirement of a workshop and the historic separation of such ‘dirty’ environments from white collar areas provided the opportunity to reframe the workshop as a surgical and dramatic space; where computers, machinery and hum... More

Known as Kilnwood, the property is located on the edge of the Mendip Hills with an extensive view overlooking Glastonbury Tor. The brief for the project given to De Rosee Sa was to ensure that the renovation and new build share the same local vernacular and architectural language as that of other nearby farms and rural buildings, such as pitched roofs and black ship-lap timber boarding.   With the main house, a converted barn, De Rosee Sa designed an impressive and welcoming entrance. The practice created a new external entrance porch which dually functions as a boot room, and within what was the original hallway, they relocated the staircase. Moving its footprint allowed for a double-height hallway, successfully opening up the space... More