Transforming Interior Spaces with Timber Battens

In the neighbourhood of Sickla, set in eastern Stockholm, timber is taking over. The Stockholm Wood City, currently under development by Henning Larsen and White Arkitekter, is poised to claim the title of the world’s biggest mass timber development.[1]

This bold undertaking serves as the perfect illustration for our thesis in this article: that timber, often regarded as old-fashioned and simple, is in fact one of the most formidable resources available to modern designers.

Featurecraft, a joinery company that manufactures decorative timber systems, thinks it's high time we recognised the tremendous potential of this natural material.

Make It New

These were the words of Ezra Pound, the modernist poet credited with spurring a new literary movement. The same maxim must be applied to architecture, day after day, year after year, to circumvent the stagnation and ideological decay that creeps upon us with time. Yet architects often worry themselves into exhaustion trying to invent new materials, new concepts, crossing out all the ideas of yesterday and scouring the world for radical invention – when none of this fervour is necessary.

Take the humble timber batten. It’s been used to death, some would argue; it’s been applied so liberally to walls, fences, and doorways that it’s as commonplace as concrete – but this shortsighted assessment fails to recognise that timber possesses a singular quality. Wood is carved from the slow-burning souls of forests; timber carries within it the memory of life.

Does that seem fanciful? Perhaps it is – but why, then, has biophilic design become so popular worldwide? As people seek to infuse their architectural designs with the beauty of nature, they turn unfailingly to timber products like those provided by Featurecraft. The timber batten is indeed a way to ‘make it new’ – not by rejecting the conventions of the past, but by honouring our forests, celebrating nature, and embracing simplicity. The natural variations of wood, the knots, the imperfections, the warm, still-living glow, are the perfect antithesis to the slick, ultra-modern, and over-manufactured aesthetics threatening to take over modern architecture.

An Ode to Functionality

With the advent of MDF and plywood, many of the limitations of natural timber have been stripped away. While solid timber battens are naturally highly durable, MDF battens with timber veneers can also be made fire-retardant to keep people safe in the event of a fire-related emergency. Battens can also be integrated into acoustic systems to minimise indoor sound pollution. Cast your eye over the timber battens offered by companies like Featurecraft: these are not your grandmother's wooden battens. In a short span of decades, the timber batten has evolved into a stronger, better form.

Above, Below, and Between: The Batten Can Go Anywhere

Featurecraft's timber battens are equally useful for creating feature walls, feature ceilings, and feature screens. Overhead, straight battens create a sense of order, while waveform contour baffles generate visual intrigue. On walls, solid timber battens create entrancing silhouettes that shift and deepen as the lighting changes. In other places, battens turn into screens, dividing rooms and areas from each other as effortlessly as a knife slicing through hot butter, but still allowing light and air to flow between spaces. No matter what your environment requires, the endlessly adaptable timber batten can achieve this effect.

Endless Aesthetic Options

Just as no two trees look the same, no two timber battens have the same appearance. Battens can be manufactured in various standard sizes and profiles, such as square, bullnose, fluted, side-taper, double-taper, cylinder, and triangle. Battens can also be stained, veneered in all the colours of wild forest bark, and covered in HPL for easy-cleaning options. Even more alluring is the siren call of Featurecraft's custom craftsmanship. A skilled woodworker knows how to shape a block of wood – natural or engineered – into a shapely piece of decorative timber, and this is Featurecraft’s specialty.

With all of these options laid out like gems at a marketplace, designers are truly spoilt for choice. There is no need to plunder the natural world for unsustainable materials, or work yourselves into paroxysms searching for the prettiest way to decorate an interior space. Timber can accomplish all that you need, and more.

A Featurecraft Case Study: Mount Roskill Grammar School

Mount Roskill Grammar School was opened in 1953. Soon thereafter, the school adopted a motto: ‘Sursum’, which meant ‘To the Heights’. This school sits within Socio-economic Decile 4, meaning that a relatively high proportion of its students come from ‘lower’ socio-economic backgrounds as per governmental rankings. However, this has not prevented Roskill – as it is colloquially known – from achieving some of the most outstanding sporting and academic results in the country.

In recent years, Roskill decided to upgrade their library into a modern ‘Learning Hub’. Architecture firm Ignite Architects headed this project, and Featurecraft was brought on board to create feature walls, ceilings, and a counter-front for the central desk. Their team used solid timber battens for the wall, a stately touch that spoke to the decades of history interwoven through this building. On the ceiling went fire-rated MDF battens with a timber veneer, with acoustic backing panels fitted behind them to reduce noise. Finally, they reverted to solid timber battens again for the counter-front, creating warm wooden stripes that glowed against the white desktop and nearby supporting pillars.

With these simple timber touches, Roskill Grammar’s library was transformed.

Protecting the Earth with Sustainable Timber

What of sustainability? What of the debt we owe to our planet, with forests scoured to ash in the aftermath of our relentless hunt for building materials?

These are valid questions, but they do not occlude us from using timber. Responsible manufacturers work with sustainability organisations like the Forest Stewardship Council to ensure the ethicality of their timber products. Featurecraft holds Chain of Custody Certification from this prestigious organisation, enabling them to sell FSC® and PEFC-certified timber that is guaranteed not to cause environmental harm through the processes of supply and manufacture. Timber can also be harvested in a manner which removes carbon from the atmosphere, thus actively improving the quality of our environment. Decorative timber remains one of our foremost strategies for sustainable architecture.

Timber Battens Offer Freedom to Design

Simple to install, but endlessly complex in their visual effects, timber battens are a masterstroke for creative design. Modern fads will rise and fall, but there’s a reason that wood has always been popular in architecture. There’s far more to the batten than meets the eye. Suppliers and manufacturers like Featurecraft have spent decades carving the most exquisite decorative forms from this beautiful material; now, they offer you the transformative power of the timber batten. Let nature inspire you to create your best work.

Looking for support with your designs or specification process? The Featurecraft team's keen to help out, so get in touch for whatever you need.

[1] https://henninglarsen.com/projects/wood-city-stockholm