For most of us, it requires a certain level of imagination to picture New Zealand radiata pine cladding the roof and exterior walls of Kelly Klein’s impressive waterfront home in the Hamptons. Yet the pale boards following its spare, precise lines began with exactly that familiar tree. They are the work of Abodo, the New Zealand family business founded by the Gudsells in 2001, whose ingenuity has given radiata pine the durability and beauty that have earned it a place in some of the world’s most desirable homes.
Daniel Gudsell recognised something valuable in radiata’s abundance and relatively short growing cycle, but the species had previously been overlooked for its suitability for multiple demanding applications. Abodo sources pine from FSC-certified New Zealand forests, then heat-treats and engineers it into its Vulcan range, developing greater durability, dimensional stability, and a consistent vertical grain. Those qualities matter in a coastal climate, where timber must endure exposure, and in a precisely detailed building, where small movements can quickly ruin a once-perfect surface. They also give architects and homeowners an aesthetically appealing material solution that’s warm, finely textured, and capable of ageing with character.
Klein, a photographer and the former wife of Calvin Klein, worked with David Piscuskas of 1100 Architect on a house composed of two perpendicular, barn-like volumes beside New York’s Sag Harbor Bay. Because the cladding extends across the roof and walls, its texture would govern how those large planes respond to changing light. Piscuskas and his team spent two years testing samples on-site, where smoothly dressed boards reflected an unwelcome glare from the water; a finer texture softened that reflection and allowed the timber’s colour to gain more depth. The selected Vulcan Cladding, will gradually weather to a silver hue. It is difficult to imagine a more demanding setting than the Hamptons in which to make a New Zealand pine prove itself.
Elsewhere in the United States, the appeal of Abodo’s work has taken darker tones. New Zealand-born Braeden Scally and Shelby Scally designed Crooked Tree Lodge for Shelby’s parents on a steep Alabama lakeside site, setting three gabled pavilions among the trees and connecting them by bridges. Viewed from the lake, their blackened Vulcan Cladding lets the buildings recede into the wooded shoreline; as one approaches, the custom shiplap profile and the precision of its joins come into focus. Braeden had encountered Abodo during his architecture studies in New Zealand, and the timber offered an answer to the family’s wish for a durable home that would continue to look great over time.
Abodo’s timber at Roscommon House in Western Australia reveals how much the company has achieved beyond exterior cladding. Within Neil Cownie Architect’s concrete residence, narrow Vulcan battens cover the reading room walls, framing recessed shelves and lending the space a warmth that its exposed structure would scarcely have provided. The same profile continues into the kitchen, where it conceals appliance doors and gives the island a ribbed surface beside smooth stone. Across such extensive areas, the consistency of the timber becomes part of the design’s discipline, allowing the architect to work confidently with repetition, shadow, and grain.
At Little Vivian Bay on Kawau Island, Abodo’s timber serves a house with a long family history. The Morton family’s original bach was built in Auckland, dismantled, and carried to the island by scow; when the extended family outgrew it, they commissioned Simon Novak of NOVAK+MIDDLETON to design a new home above the bay. Dark Vulcan Cladding sits among the kānuka and answers the practical demands of an exposed property that may be unoccupied for stretches, while clear-finished panelling draws the material across interior walls and ceilings. In the main living room, uplighting catches the grain overhead as the view opens towards the water.
Each of the homes Abodo works with differs in climate, scale, and character, and each demands that the timber contribute substantially to its architecture while still standing up to the rigours of time and conditions. That is the success of the Gudsells’ original insight, sustained by years of development: a New Zealand family company has enticed architects around the world to reconsider what can be achieved with radiata pine from New Zealand.
