The New Zealand villa has become a nostalgic part of our housing landscape. Local Architect, Pauline Ching discusses her latest exciting villa project in Wellington, that included building a new internal stair and kitchen.
Shown above: Key aspects of the renovation project showing the Plantation bamboo vertical panels (natural colour), made into various finished products.
Pauline and her client chose Plantation bamboo natural vertical construction panels as the key material for the stairs, screen and kitchen benchtop. Bamboo added a modern aesthetic and helped bring the project to life.
“As with many villas it felt quite dark before the renovation” said Pauline, “and the light colour of the bamboo was helpful in bouncing around the extra light we captured”. “The longer length (2.440m) of the vertical construction panels made it suitable for the 2.4m high screen alongside the new stair”, she added.
Pauline mentioned that “the vertical lines of the construction panels accentuated the verticality of the screen members. We used 40mm thick panels for the screen and stair structure (pictured above). The exposed grain in the bamboo panel edge made them a real feature”.
Pauline has worked with Plantation bamboo and their products in the past. “Aesthetically the natural bamboo worked because of its light colour and laminated edge detail. Practically it worked for the stair and benchtop because it is so hard (as hard as Jarrah).”
“Environmentally it felt good using a product that is as renewable and hard wearing as bamboo”.
The existing kitchen was particularly dark. “The insertion of new skylights, combined with the natural vertical construction ply benchtop made the space feel much lighter and brighter. With a good hard polyurethane finish the bench works well and my client was delighted with the result”, added Pauline.
See some more of Wellington Architect Pauline Ching’s work here – www.paulinechingarchitect.co.nz
Photography supplied by: Ian Robertson – ianrobertsonphotography.co.nz
Plantation bamboo construction panels can be used to create a variety of joinery including; bench tops, stairs, wardrobes, doors, cabinetry, decorative screens and more. See the below gallery for some ideas for your next project!
