Trends in wood facades for 2023

Building facades for luxury residential projects form one of the more important design details. Let us look at some of the key considerations and trending options for 2023.

By actual survey, people prefer real wood for its warmth, natural appeal and a certain richness it provides. The market is abound with synthetic, wood alternate products such as WPC and aluminum cladding & louvers, high pressure laminate panels etc. The reason is clear to see – We love the wood aesthetic but due to the issues we face, we go for the alternates. There has not been a technology in real wood in India for outdoor applications that can handle the issues such as warping, high frequency of maintenance, insect issues & sustainability.

In the natural wood segment also, the market is flooded with options – Timbers such as Ipe, thermo ash, pine etc that may cause confusion. As a designer or a luxury home owner, your requirements are simple – Outdoor wood that works. Be it a facade cladding, screening, deck, soffit, gate cladding, fencing or a pergola, you want your wood to be beautiful (no warping or distortions), durable (free from insect attack worries), low maintenance (no frequent maintenance) and sustainable (not harming the environment). To be fair, it is as much the wood that matters as the way it is installed. Another vital factor is the quality of the coating used to finish it. By carefully considering the various factors and detailing the installation details correctly, one goes a long way in ensuring durability, low maintenance and long term aesthetics. So how does one go about it? What is the right wood for your project?

Enter the solution – Our Vulcan range of facade, decking, pergola and gate profiles. Combined with the proprietary Protector oil Coatings, it is a great solution that ticks all the above boxes. Made with 100% real wood with no plastic elements and a coating system designed for low maintenance, this patented technology overcomes the typical issues with wood as mentioned above. In addition, Vulcan scores over other wood types in various ways. Now it is possible to specify a low maintenance real wood such as Vulcan that can handle the extremely humid and hot conditions typically associated with certain climate zones such as the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Additionally, Vulcan can be ordered with or without termite protection depending on the termite risk in that specific building zone.

Contemporary trends dictate a very modern color palette in light pale tones and in a stark contrast, even in full black which looks stunning to say the least. This is not to say that the traditional brown tones of real wood are not in vogue.

Talking about the shape of wood planks (profile), designers for luxury homes are preferring to clad it with straight line profiles in Louvered screen form in vertical orientation. Witness the following award winning projects clad with Vulcan around the world:

Vulcan Cladding in light colour (Sioo:x) – Glenstrae – Christchurch, New Zealand

Vulcan Screening in light colour (Sioo:x) – Culbara – Sunshine Coast, Australia

Vulcan LVG in Teak mixed with Straw color- Pergola, Louvre, Facade-Edge Wooden Strip- Vasant Kunj Farmhouse, Delhi

Vulcan Cladding in Black colour (Nero) – Semi Bold – Bondi, Australia

To create an almost maintenance free facade, designers are opting to specify Vulcan for soffits. With no direct exposure to the UV from Sun, luxury home owners have a superbly low maintenance option in real wood that can yet be protected from termites and fungus with the use of appropriate pre-treated Vulcan soffit profiles.

Vulcan Panelling in light colour (Sioo:x)

Louvre in Soffit in Teak colour!

In conclusion, now you have an option in real wood that works in tough conditions. The reason for compromising with alternates is no longer valid. Reach out to your Span Floors sales consultant or the local dealer in your area and they would be happy to assist you in designing a facade that would turn heads around 🙂