Traditionally used as a basic commodity and lining material, plywood is inspiring architects to treat it with more respect and the results are amazing.
While many look to hoop pine and timber veneers for interior lining, architect Craig Tan is approaching plywood with a different lens. Tan has used Ecoply in numerous projects as a hero material and enjoys playing with how it’s perceived.
“Plywood – we love it. It's an actual material – like stone or marble or the branches of a tree. The texture is varied, it’s organic. We celebrate the texture and the knots of the CD face – it tells a story,” explained Craig Tan.
Across private and public projects, Tan’s business focuses on the user experience of a space, making memorable places where people want to be. The goal is to make a space that “pinches you, taps you on the shoulder – engaging people with a little trigger.” It is this belief in the experience that becomes the binding thread through all of their work – making the social glue that brings communities together.
Such a “pinch or tap” is used in Tan’s Dancing House renovation. A plywood enclosed bridge between the original Californian Bungalow and the new extension works like a pause, a “palette cleanser," before you enter into the larger space at the back. This sensory overload of plywood then opens up with a striking stained plywood ceiling, angled to provide a counter-rhythm to the hip roof of the original house.
In the Brompton Pavilion and Brompton Café a baffled, light-stained plywood ceiling gives the effect of clouds floating across the sky in a space that is essentially a rectangular box. It provides an intimacy and lightness, creating a space that you want to be in. In this project, Tan has also used Shadowclad for exterior cladding, appreciating its economical durability and ability to absorb and hold stains. Eight years on, this temporary structure still looks as good as ever.
Builders who have worked on Tan’s projects are often concerned about the use of CD grade, but by the end they are won over. Tan treats the plywood as if it’s a more refined material, specifying arised edges with butt joints or mitred corners and stains by Grimes and Sons to finish the material. In terms of construction, Ecoply is easy to work with and install as it’s a panel product and is durable and economical.
Ecoply® is manufactured by Carter Holt Harvey from FSC® certified, sustainably grown Australian and New Zealand Plantation Radiata Pine. The production and supply from the Myrtleford mill in Victoria means fewer carbon miles compared to imported products.
This is good news for Tan who sees sustainability as part of the overall experience and part of the complete environment. The choices of material, and how they have come to be, form part of that overall experience. Tan wants people to want to be in a space he’s created, for it to be enjoyed and for them to want to come back again. And there's no doubt, they will.
