Rust-in-progress
Weathering Steel
(the Marmite of the architectural world)
It’s a small but perfectly formed project and, unusually, is only about ten minutes away from the Tandem studio. These screens will be part interpretation, part decoration and part security for an historic feature of the County Down coastline which we’ll tell you all about when it’s finished.
Weathering steel splits opinion. To some it’s just rusty old metal – to others there are both practical and aesthetic reasons to specify it. We’ve seen weathering steel used really successfully in the natural environment, all along the Wild Atlantic Way for example. Aesthetically, the rusted finish seems to sit well in natural surroundings – oddly less brutal than clean, shiny or powder-coated steel.
Practically, the controlled rusted finish retains its looks for decades with very little maintenance, even in extreme salt air conditions. In fact, any significant maintenance will most likely be the removal of graffiti or stickers, the material itself being pretty much self cleaning…or at least, barely affected by natural degradation. Some might even say it improves with age.
(Images courtesy of Metalcast NI)
We’ll post more about this project when it goes live. You’ll find it under…