Yakisugi house by Terunobu Fujimori

It comprises a living and dining area, two bedrooms, a study, and a tea room located in the tower.
The building is clad in charred cedar that was smoked in eight-metre lengths.Due to the length of timber used, the material warped during this process and the resulting gaps in the facade are filled with plaster.For Yakisugi House, it was the small cave dwelling found near the Caves of Lascaux in France Fujimori encountered on his own travel. The cave idea materialised as the main living/dining room area, which leads to a study, two bedrooms and a tearoom inside a mini ‘tower.Fujimori wrapped his ‘cave’ with highly durable charred cedar boards; a traditional cladding material still used in Okayama prefecture. Normally, however, the boards come in lengths of less than two metres, for if they are any longer they warp with the heat of their production process.Undeterred, however, the architect persuaded a group of ten friends, including the clients, to spend a whole day charring cedar boards by using a new experimental technique of his own. It took them one whole day to produce four hundred boards, all more or less eight metres tall, which were precariously but beautifully smoked in clusters of three.It is amazingly beautiful, it seems to ’suck’ light in from around it and has a colour all of its own. That was used internally however.
And the contrast of the rough external skin with the smooth internal is lovely. Love the glazing detail with the ’slices’ of tree trunks!