Essay · · 1 min read
On board marks
Why we still specify sawn boards, and what a wall remembers about the week it was poured.
A board-marked wall is a record of its own making. Every grain line is a plank that was sawn, nailed, oiled, filled, struck and, if we are careful, used again.
On the Basalt Reading Room we reused each board three times and turned it between pours, so the grain never lines up twice. From a distance the wall reads as one material; up close it reads as a week of work.
The argument against board marking is usually cost. The argument for it is that nobody has ever wanted to lean on a smooth wall.
We keep a library of 140 sample panels in Rotterdam. Clients are welcome to touch them.