Ancestral, vernacular and minimalist; for many, these three words have come to define the architecture of Japan, a country that has served as a source of cultural and technological inspiration to countless cultures.

Villa Meijendel / VVKH architecten. Image © Christian van der Kooy

Ancestral, vernacular and minimalist; for many, these three words have come to define the architecture of Japan, a country that has served as a source of cultural and technological inspiration to countless cultures.In recent decades, popular Japanese techniques have spread throughout the world, not only in the field of technology but also in technical and artistic areas. In architecture, the appropriation and reinvention of different materials and construction techniques, such as the carbonization of wooden facades, has been a continuing theme.The popular technique, now more than three hundred years old, that is known in Japan as Shou Sugi Ban, was developed on the island of Naoshima to treat wood used in the construction of traditional fishing villages. The treatment was designed to combat the damage to the wood caused by the effects of the sea. Originally, the process entailed burning the outer layer of the wood with the use of fire, however, the method usually now sees the boards charred by a torch. By doing so, the external fibers of the wood are forced to react, leaving the wood behind immune to the attack of ter...