Last week someone visited our villa and asked “why does the wood here look different”?
The wood that we used wasn’t new. It was seasoned teak which had been matured over the years, and we intentionally use the recycled teak.
It isn’t because it’s cheaper, in fact its more expensive than the new wood. But because it doesn’t expand when the humidity rises and doesn’t contract when the air gets dry.
New wood responds to every season, every monsoon, every change in temperature.
Freshly cut timber is still adjusting to that reality. Seasoned teak already has.
A seasoned teak has spent years releasing its natural moisture, settling into its shape and becoming more stable. By the time it reaches a home, much of that movement has already happened.
The doors are less likely to twist and frames are less likely to shift. The material behaves the way good craftsmanship expects it to.
Which is why we always use seasoned teak, that has tiny imperfections and marks that remind that it came from a living tree and not a production line.
“Good Architecture should respect the climate of the land, and not stand apart from it”
— Benicio Homes Goa
