Deliveries have been the theme at Habitat lately, with the roofing from Metalcraft arriving earlier in the month. We are using Coloursteel in the new profile ‘Kahu’, with the colour Flaxpod. This profile has a double capillary overlap to the side lap which gives a greater weather performance. The sheets have started going up and the building is starting to form its outer shell.
Our beautiful Siberian Larch arrived last week from BBS Timbers in Whangarei. This will be used for part of the exterior cladding – but not in its natural form. We intend to apply a charring process to the timber using a traditional Japanese method called Shou-Sugi-Ban. The below image was a piece of initial inspiration for us; however we will experiment with creating a range of different effects in order to settle on the perfect one.
Not only does charring the timber give a beautiful textured and dynamic aesthetic, but it also has huge practical benefits. The charring process leaves the timber decay, weather and UV resistant – and it also significantly extends its fire resistance. From a maintenance point of view, there is no regular painting or staining required, and you can rest assured that the timber won’t ‘cup’ or warp as dark painted or stained timbers are prone to. The effect of the charring depends how long the flame is applied (as shown below), so we are looking forward to spending time fine-tuning our technique to get the desired result.
This week we are also expecting delivery of the first lot of our Aluminium Joinery from Nulook CHB. Owner Roscoe Williams has been great to deal with, and came down for a thorough site measure in late January before manufacturing began. It was valuable to spend time on site with him and get his advice on some of the finer configuration details. We are using Nulook’s new 41Architectural series for its flat faced, minimal aesthetic.
Meanwhile on site, the rest of the RAB has gone up, custom made aluminium gutters have been fabricated and installed by Tubeworx, and we have started marking out for our multi-planed angled soffits. Here’s some further details from site:
The top left hand image shows the framing of the dramatic western corner of the living room – as seen here in the photo render (right). The oxide painted steel post supports the glazing and overhang of the roof. The two sliding doors on each side will slide away from this post revealing a dramatic open corner.
The above image shows the roof framing over the carport, intersecting with the block wall. We are currently working out the muti-planed soffit that will form the underside of the carport, the effect of which will be origami-esque.
We have chosen the high-performing roof underlay Solitex Mento 3000 by Pro Clima (pictured above). It is a triple layered weather tightness product that allows for up to 90 days of UV exposure before roof cladding goes on. This was hugely beneficial for a complex roof such as this, where it takes time to get the various roof planes calculated and resolved, so it gave us a window of opportunity to do this while the building was temporarily weather protected.
In the coming weeks we look forward to getting the roof completed, most of the windows in, and cladding underway – keep an eye out for further updates.
