Shou sugi ban, or yakisugi, is a traditional Japanese technique in which timber is charred to help preserve exterior siding. Thought to date to the Edo period (1603–1868), the process creates a carbonised layer over the timber that can improve its resistance to moisture, insects and weathering.
“They last for decades and decades,” said architect Pan Yi Cheng, who proposed shou sugi ban for the renovation of a bungalow in Sentosa Cove. The roughly 20-year-old house featured a mishmash of facade materials that did not appeal to its new owner. “There was reinforced-concrete, mixed with lot of timber that was deteriorating. We hacked those away, keeping only the structural beams and columns,” said Pan, founder of Type0 Architecture.
Both homeowner and architect saw potential in the bones of the building. What it needed was a more coherent architectural language. Supplied by Calvary Carpentry, panels of charred Accoya timber wrap around the existing structure in a grid, giving the house a new skin. “This entirely new architectural language is both practical and sustainable,” said Pan.
