We choose materials by how they age. Handover is one day; for the next fifty years the house lives with rain, frost and the marks of hands on door handles. Concrete, timber and lime age with dignity — which is why we keep coming back to them.
Fair-faced concrete carries the house and needs no costume. Timber is warm to the touch and may show that it is alive. Lime render breathes with the wall — on old masonry it is the only honest choice.
What we do not use
Materials that look like other materials. Plastic pretending to be timber, concrete pretending to be stone, film pretending to be anything. A house that does not lie about what it is made of is easy to repair and ages without embarrassment.
