Photography © Arches Kebony and Arches celebrate Valley Villa’s recent award win Valley Villa by Arches, a contemporary, eco-friendly villa clad in sustainable Kebony wood, has been announced as a winner for the Residential Architect Design Award for the category Custom Home more than 3,000 square feet. The Residential Architect Design Awards (RADA) recognises outstanding work in advancing residential design, particularly if any environmentally friendly and sustainable materials were selected. Valley Villa was chosen for its striking architectural style that unites sustainability with contemporary design; simultaneously being both modern and traditional. The clear, angular design of this property aptly named ‘Valley Villa’ creates a minimalist exterior with Kebony as the prime material contrasting against the black slate at the building’s base. Architect, Arūnas Liola, aimed to design a structure that is both ecologically friendly and striking in appearance, interweaving natural materials with a bold sculptural form.  The villa has been built to complement the scenery, with natural timber cladding and irregular pitched roofs, characteristic of the neighbouring properties and in harmony with the hillsides and pine trees. Kebony was carefully selected to clad the exterior of Valley Villa; Kebony’s environmental credentials as well as its aesthetic, hardwearing and sustainable qualities made this an obvious choice for the exterior of this property. Developed in Norway, the patented Kebony technology is an environmentally friendly process, which modifies sustainably sourced softwoods by heating the wood with furfuryl alcohol - an agricultural by-product. By polymerising the wood’s cell wall, the softwoods permanently take on the attributes of tropical hardwood including high durability and dimensional stability, without the need for tropical deforestation or environmentally damaging treatment. The quality of the wood, and through the skills of an exceptional carpenter, meant the timber could be sculpted and worked with easily. Kebony requires no additional treatment even when used as an external cladding, the material simply develops a silver-grey patina which will allow Valley Villa to adapt naturally to its surroundings over a period of time. Arūnas Liola, Architect at Arches commented: “It is a real honour to have worked with Kebony and receive recognition for our design. Kebony is the perfect cladding material for any residential scheme – it is long lasting, beautiful, and it comes with all necessary certifications and eco-labels.” Gytis Korzinskas of HOTA, Kebony’s distributor in the Baltics added: “We are thrilled to have been announced as a winner of this prestigious residential design award which demonstrates Kebony’s versatility as a material; unique in appearance, durability and sustainability. The team at Arches have created a truly unique property and we look forward to seeing what they design next!”         @kebonywood