Suddenly everywhere you look, houses are turning black. The New York Times has noticed, too, and written a recent magazine piece on the ancient Japanese technique of charring wood. Called in this country shou sugi ban, the treatment is said to extend the life of the wood and offer greater protection from insects and fire. American architects are drawn not only to its practical benefits, but also to its aesthetic appeal. See RD’s latest cover story on Old Quarry House by Gray Organschi Architecture, which features an exterior of charred wood supplied by Delta Millworks in Austin, Texas—a national purveyor of the material.
Charring individual pieces of siding is both time consuming and costly, of course, so some architects are achieving a similar look with exterior paints and stains. See RD’s previous cover story on a house in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, which uses Benjamin Moore’s Iron Mountain to coat its western red cedar cladding.
