brooklyn

Shou Sughi Ban, Worcestershire Sauce and Climate Change

shousughiban_charredcedar_brooklynShou Sughi Ban on reclaimed Douglas Fir at 158 Clifton, a Passive House project. The old growth woods were recovered from Worcestershire Sauce tanks in NJ, and milled into 5” & 7” clapboard. Oslo exterior finish of  natural oils was applied as a top coat. The ebonized facade is characteristic of the Japanese fire treatment technique that dates to the 1700’s and serves as a modern application, furthering the exterior performance of a sustainable material, and producing a subtle and dramatic silhouette of the underlying virgin Douglas Fir figure. The darkened boards amplify a sublime quality of the Egyptian revival inspired dormers, bound to the Mansard slate roof and seeming to take flight. Less expected –  an oiled and darkened reflection of climate change denial now taking root in the Capital.

African Ironwood South St., Seaport

Reclaimed boardwalk African Ironwood, salvage from the South St., Seaport restoration, is among the hardest woods on earth. It’s more common in European Maritime  Applications, but it’s also found in the depths of the Paris metro. It’s cellular structure makes it notoriously on stable at narrow thicknesses. here, it’s a striking detail  and environmental statement at the threshold of a Brooklyn Brownstone.

Brooklyn City Point

mailchimp_citypoint_001If there was a reclaimed wood as emblematic of both the new and old Brooklyn, as the rusted steel that wraps the Barclays Center, it may be the salvaged brownboard that zig zags in a herringbone form through the corridor of the new nearby City Point development. Made from a range of different antique softwoods, reclaimed primarily in the NYC area – from a Western Beef in the Bronx to a Kosher dairy facility in Bushwick – it unfolds along the five hundred foot space in broad planks – 5/8” thick x 7” wide and 8’ long. Vaulted over thirty feet in the air, the woods express some of the same rustic elegance as a brownstone facade. Though unlike a  tree lined row house block, the installation is in tension with the florescent lit space of commercial tiles and engineered panels.

An equal allure of reclaimed wood that defines the space uses a mix of salvaged and remanufactured woods from Sawkill Lumber for paneling – a patterned variation of widths and lengths made from potato farm grey board, cypress vinegar tank stock and the tropical hardwood of city boardwalks. The wash finish helps to further unify the woods as they parade across long wall stretches. Conceived by Gensler Architects, the new CityPoint is home to large and small retailers that include an Alamo theatre and Katz’s Deli.
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Passive House Conference 2016 NYC

passivehouse_reclaimedwoods_menck001

Sawkill Lumber joined with Menck Windows at the North American Passive House Conference 2016. The intersection of reclaimed woods – a certifiable ‘passive’ forest product – and energy efficient windows, was a triple-pane window made with reclaimed Redwood (salvaged from dismantled vinegar tanks), supplied by Sawkill Lumber and manufactured at the Menck Windows facility in the U.S.; just three hrs north of NYC in Chicopee, MA. Thanks to Menck for their leap into the process and putting the salvaged wood through their state-of-the-art milling equipment. Their acceptance of what’s otherwise a clear ‘defect’ in the wood was certainly stretched on this one. A remarkably technical, beautiful and uber-sustainable window emerged. The first one was installed at a Brooklyn passive house on the opening day of the conference.

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