The Humanity of timber, an end user’s emotion. From the outset, the client wanted to see timber, more specifically CLT and applied to single story social housing. All connections, machining, services and finishes were aimed at this. Other design aspects included reduced car parking, common vegetable gardens, and a green accessway drivable only in emergencies.

The infill housing of 6x one bedroom units, and 2x two bedroom units created less disruption to neighbours than other conventional construction. An insulated panel enabled the structure to be clad quickly and provided further thermal efficiency.

A tenant said he loved seeing the timber, and that he knew it was a solid was even better. He said he was calmer living here, and that his life generally had improved greatly. A true New Zealand personification of the Planet Ark study.