The Yakisugi House (charcoal house) designed by Japanese architect Terunobu Fujimori is intriguing me.

The house comprises a living and dining area, two bedrooms, a study, and a tea room located in the tower .The architect and ten of his friends–including the clients–created the charred cedar cladding themselves, spending an entire day burning 400, eight-meter planks by hand. The idea, according to Fujimori, was to create a house as far removed from the contemporary architecture scene as possible.

His inspiration was the cave art at Lascaux, in southwestern France. The work does bring to mind two trends, one ancient and one trendy: The Japanese, for hundreds of years, have used charred wood as a natural air filter–that’s why you can sometimes find pieces of thoroughly charred wood decorating Japanese restaurants.

found via dezeen.com

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