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Its fun, looking at all the Modernists scurrying for cover crying "pastiche", never realising that their own glass boxes are derivative of designs done a century ago.

Oh, but that's okay, thats a REFERENCE!

LOL!

As for the current rash of eco-modernists rushing to claim superiority of timber in construction and cladding, they should remember there were reasons people changed to concrete construction and PVC windows before extolling the virtues of a material that needs regular TLC at significant cost and personal risk to the owners or tradespeople delivering it.

Some of the timber clad buildings in Dublin looked excellent when first executed, but now in the "natural weathering stage" and turning to silver, and flaws in the material are becoming exposed and the buildings look decidedly less vivacious thant their heyday - a mere five to ten years ago!

The worst are those frames and areas cladding where parts of a complete section were differentially exposed to the elements because of overhangs or orientation towards the prevailing weather - part has retained its natural colour, part is silvering nicely and there is a dirty grey or black interface.

This smear, unlike in classical design, or even good modernist design, is not acounted for in the work by a defined change in surface or material, but its exacerbated by a curve or slanting [elevation] or bevelled [plan] profile, leaving the weathering line unaccounted for and uncontrolled.

It is not a "happy accident" in my opinion, it is a shortcoming in professional [part III] training in our temperate climate that has failed to take account of rainfall, incident sunlight and exposure to thermal shock and freezing conditions.

No doubt some product manufacturer will make a fortune restoring these timbers to their pristine and warm-coloured glory with something that "does exaclty what it says on the tin".

I can't help thinking this is a poor resolution of a problem that the masters of modern design should have foreseen if they looked beyond their cardboard-and-plastic model, Archicad, Microstation and AutoCAD 3d Revit electronic model worlds or employed one or two people over thirty five to review their designs for weathering issues and devised methods of resolving them then didn't involve high maintenance.

And If someone wants to yell "self-cleaning glass" or "titanium oxide cement" I'll say "fine, but they cost a fortune and they're not timber."