ABSTRACT

The external appearance of housing has an impact on both the quality of the immediate neighborhood in which it is constructed and the surrounding landscape. This chapter examines the particular change in house design that is driven by a desire by many developers and others to increase the use of lightweight rainscreen cladding on the exterior facades of houses. Most timber frame buildings in the United Kingdom are constructed with an external masonry skin, which often serves only as a protective rainscreen cladding. The idea that people perceive timber as being somehow inferior is often stated by developers, builders and a range of built environment professionals, but evidence for the tends to be anecdotal. The social representation of timber cladding in housing is likely to be responsible for resistance or rejection of the material, if the established order, or what is familiar, is perceived to be in threat.