Smart meets art

To Contrast the vast expanse of louvres that provide the civic centre with its modern aesthetic, the designers wanted to provide both a feeling of visual warmth and a reference to the forests that are synonymous with the Waitakere area.

Specialist timber supplier CedarCorp was contracted to provide the materials to make this possible. The species of wood specified for the project was western red cedar, a soft red-brown timber that is valued for its resistance to decay, and as such, used extensively for outdoor construction.

Inside the civic centre's gourd-shaped council chamber, high-grade western red cedar batons were also used to line the walls. The timber was fixed to framework above acoustic insulation, and also to the large sliding door that seals the chamber from the chamber hall.

An additional service offered by CedarCorp is the precoating of timber before it is delivered to site. On this project, all exterior timber was prefinished with Sikkens, while the interior timber was precoated with a polyurethane finish.

CedarCorp stocks a number of timber types, including radiata weatherboards, and solid timber in tongue and groove flooring from exotics such as American oak, kwila, rimu, matai, jarrah and tawa.

For more details, contact CedarCorp, 13 Douglas Alexander Parade, Albany, phone (09) 415 8112 or 0800 4 Cedar (423 327). Email: sales@cedarcorp.co.nz, website: www.cedarcorp.co.nz.

Story by: Trendsideas