US architects discussed the latest wood trends at Delta Millworks anniversary

Promotion: architects from Desai Chia, CCY, Olson Kundig and Marlon Blackwell came together to discuss the latest trends and innovations in wood at a panel discussion held by Delta Millworks.

Desai Chia Architecture partner Katherine Chia, CCY Architects partner Todd Kennedy, Olson Kundig principal John Riordan and Marlon Blackwell partner Ati Blackwell appeared on the panel, which was part of a day of timber-themed celebrations at Delta Millworks' headquarters in Austin, Texas, to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

Dezeen's US editor Ben Dreith moderated the discussion, drawing the architects to discuss wood through the lenses of sustainability, beauty and performance.

Many of the architects acknowledged that there was a natural love and affinity for wood among the public before discussing some of the challenges to working with the material and making an impact with it.

"I think wood is beloved universally," said Chia. "People have an emotional reaction to it, as well as they love the fact that it represents a certain level of sustainability."

"There's a versatility to wood that makes it meet a lot of different needs," added Kennedy. "From how a siding is laid up to the profile, species, grade and finish. With this one material, you can achieve so many different things."

For Riordan of Olson Kundig, wood helped to bring a human scale into large commercial projects where metal was the primary material.

"There's an equity in, I think, the standard lumber shapes," said Riordan. "People know what it feels like. They interact with it every day. If they go to Home Depot, they see it."

"So while you can have a steel structure that doesn't have scale to the average user, especially in a commercial environment, we superimpose those nominal wood products on top of that, expressing the structure, but also sort of breaking down the scale," Riordan continued. "It also adds that sort of residential quality to what would ordinarily be a commercial building."

Blackwell spoke about how her practice, Marlon Blackwell, worked to maximise what they could achieve with wood while working with the constraints of low budgets.

"We do a lot of ceilings, for example, using wood, because I think that's impactful," she said. "It also allows you to hide all the mechanical and things like that, and also create a ceilingscape that's unique."

Blackwell also said that they were often able to avoid the most expensive woods while still achieving their aims.

"We can use very inexpensive plywood, like an AC type plywood, and just use a very sophisticated assembly to still create the beauty and the warmth that people want in wood," she said.

"For the most part, people like wood," said Blackwell. "So we use wood a lot, even if it's commercial or retail or even hospitality, because wood is a way to make everything seem warm."

Kennedy spoke about how he had seen the approach to wood from clients change over the last decade, as they have come to embrace irregularity and idiosyncrasy within design.

"It's about drawing a connection for us between site, place, people and how they live," said Kennedy. "I think to some degree, value for us comes in at the question of character."

"We're finding in our work that maybe 10 years ago, people were looking for clear, vertical grain, this book match, this approach to wood that looked for it to be perfect."

"And I'd say, in the last 10 years, our work has shifted to really embracing the character of wood as the thing that really brings the warmth and brings the value of that forward in a project."

Kennedy explained that the evolution in the approach to wood was seen in both interiors and exteriors.

"As we move inside, I think millwork is a really important part of that," said Kennedy. "We've really started to think about cabinetry differently. Again, 10 years ago, everything was European boxes with a flush overlay door, and now we're really thinking about millwork as an expression of how it's built, how it goes together, face frames or exposing the underlying box and structure of that cabinetry."

When working outside, both Kennedy and Blackwell brought up the idea of rainscreen systems as having become essential.

"In terms of the opportunity to sort of imbibe texture and craft into that exterior siding, I think rainscreen, one, being really good for the stability of the wood, but also it allows us to take the depth of that wood even further and start to gap those boards off of one another, create deeper textures than just what the wood itself can do," said Kennedy.

The panel discussion took place as part of a wider open day at the Delta Millworks headquarters in East Austin.



A traditional Japanese wood-burning technique known as Shou Sugi Ban or Yakisugi was demonstrated at the event

In addition to two panels, the day featured a tour of the facilities and educational sessions, and finished with live music and a demonstration of Shou Sugi Ban – the Japanese wood burning technique that Delta Millworks introduced to the US market in 2007.

To find out more about Delta Millworks, visit the company's website.

Photography is by Rob Gomez.

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This article was written by Dezeen for Delta Millworks as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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