Timber facades with a naturally weathered aesthetic are gaining popularity in home design projects. Natural weathering is achieved by leaving the timber facade uncoated and exposed to the elements. A normal and healthy process, timber weathering is an organic aesthetic that is increasingly being adopted by designers and homeowners.

Allowing timber to naturally silver highlights two of its most endearing qualities - its natural beauty and its ability to make facades blend into the environment.

Woodform Architectural presents five timber facade projects that were allowed to age naturally.

1. Dandenong Mental Health, Victoria

Designed by Bates Smart/Group GSA, this award-winning facility used Woodform Architectural’s Expression cladding timbers. While clear oil was applied at the factory to the Blackbutt timber, no further finish was administered by the client. The clear oil application works to protect the timber against sunlight and moisture initially; however, when not reapplied, the timber will eventually weather beautifully.

2. AIIM Microscopy, New South Wales

Expression cladding timbers were used on the avant-garde facade of this state-of-the-art research facility. Pacific Teak and Spotted Gum were specified by the architects, Jacobs, while the client, in addition to the primary coat done off-site, applied pigmented coats of oil to make the timber more UV-resistant, thereby preventing its rapid silvering. The entire building will eventually weather to the same colour, replacing the early patchiness.

3. Goolwa Beach House, South Australia

Architects Grieve Gillett Dimitty Andersen chose Expression Sorrento Profile in Pacific Teak for this project. The overhang above the windows and elsewhere has caused the timber beneath it to weather unpredictably; this random weathering is also another preferred facade look in modern design.

4. Main Ridge Vineyard House, Victoria

McAllister Alcock Architects selected the mid-toned Spotted Gum Expression cladding from Woodform Architectural for the exterior of this single-storey house while retaining its visual connection to the adjoining grapevines. The house has achieved a lovely silver-grey appearance. 

5. Adelaide Zoo, South Australia

HASSELL chose the solid, wide-spaced battens from Woodform Architectural’s wide timber range to line the Adelaide Zoo, one of Australia’s most beloved tourist attractions. The facade has weathered at varying rates with some of the timber lining silvering more rapidly than others to present a frontage that believably captures the impact of wind, rain, and sun in the wilderness.

Image: Dandenong Mental Health facility