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BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON
HERITAGE RETROFIT
FIRST ANNUAL EDITION
YAKISUGI
CHARRED TIMBER
An ancient technique in new hands
DIANA ROWSELL
T
IMBER CLADDING is a
traditional feature of the historic
environment, and today it is a
popular finish for new developments
and extensions. Although timbers such
as oak and sweet chestnut might be
used without any preservative, in many
areas black-stained softwoods are a key
element of the local vernacular due to
the traditional use of coal- and pine-tar
resins to preserve exterior cladding.
In the southwest of Japan, however,
the traditional preservative technique
is wood charring, known as
Yakisugi
.
A similar technique is used in the Swiss
Alps where timber chalets last for
generations, and charring is a well-known
method of preserving wood in many
Yakisugi
cladding on a house designed by Terunobu Fujimori in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan (Photo: Dana Buntrock, Flickr)
countries and cultures around the world.
It is sometimes used on the ends of fence
posts to slow down rotting in the ground
and on timbers that are joined together
with metal elements.
Charring is arguably the oldest
method of preserving timber known to
man. Since it involves no chemicals, it also
has minimal impact on the environment,
making it highly sustainable.
YAKISUGI AT THE WEALD &
DOWNLAND LIVING MUSEUM
In October 2015 Kingston University
tutors Takeshi Hayatsu and Simon
Jones visited the Weald & Downland
Living Museum with 15 postgraduate
architecture students to begin an
investigation into architectural materials
and building crafts. At the end of that
month the students travelled to Japan
to explore alternative approaches to
building crafts by visiting a number of
buildings designed by the contemporary
Japanese architect and architectural
historian Professor Terunobu Fujimori
in his hometown of Nagano. This is a
region surrounded by mountains and
agricultural land, next to the ancient
Shinto shrine complex Suwa Taisha. It is
a highly charged place, because the Suwa
Taisha shrine is one of Japan’s oldest. In
the mountains and in the fields sacred
territories are marked by four standing
wooden poles which symbolise the
presence of gods.