Laidlaw Schultz architects The Ipe has weathered exceptionally well but the homeowner is deligent about cleaning and oiling the wood on a regular basis. We have also done jobs where we allowed the wood to turn and the Ipe has weathered to a nice grey patina.
Kaleidoscope Design Build, LLC Thanks for your answer. We are currently building a house for a client utilizing cedar rain screen siding and cedar soffit. We have plans for staining the boards slightly to help maintain color but also need a good UV protective coating. Do you have any recommendations on a UV product? (Please excuse the boards over the windows in the image. We had a run-in with some BB-gun induced carnage).
The previous projects illustrate extreme examples of using Cor-Ten steel. But most people will probably opt to use it more selectively, not covering facades with rust. This house by Laidlaw Schultz Architects, for example, limits the material to the fence and front gate. That they use the same material for the gate seems great to me; the weight of the panel and the force needed to move it (I'm guessing some very good hinges make it possible to use a piece of steel as a gate) strongly mark the transition from the public street to the private domain of the house and its yard.
This perpetual tension of counterparts is a theme throughout many details of the house, including material selection. “For me this is really a conversation between contrasts — refined materials vs. textured materials, and manufactured materials vs. natural — always attempting to create a balance between warm and cool, and materials that will age contrasted against materials that are fixed in time.” The exterior of the house, primarily composed of concrete and cor-ten steel, reveals one extreme of this statement.
This Cor-Ten entry gives privacy and a hint at what visitors will see once they are beyond the gates. Tip: When using Cor-Ten, keep in mind that runoff from the initial rusting phase can stain adjacent surfaces, like concrete. This phase can last several years, so if you decide to use it next to these surfaces anyway, plan on a stain cleanup after the rusting is done.