Alexander Jermyn Architecture recently designs a new lake house along California's Lake Tahoe complete with blacked wood to withstand the mountain weather conditions. The studio states that "We were curious how the architecture could have multiple readings. One example was the differentiation between exterior and interior. Although the exterior had to be tough to withstand sun, snowfall, and wildfires, we designed the interior to have a softness and warmth, enveloped in wood."
Throughout the exterior are charred wood walls that are known as 'Shou Sugi ban' and sit over a concrete base foundation. Both of these materials are selected due to how resilient it is during high elevations and extreme climates. It has a dark exterior and a light interior palette.
Image Credit: Alexander Jermyn Architecture
What's Driving This Trend
- Resilient Architecture
- Designing buildings with materials that can withstand extreme climates and natural disasters.
- Contrasting Exterior-interior Design
- Creating a visual and sensory contrast between the exterior and interior design of a building.
- Natural Material Innovation
- Experimenting with innovative uses of natural materials, such as charred wood, in architectural design.
Who This Affects Most
- Architecture
- Opportunities for architects to integrate natural materials and resilient design into their projects.
- Construction
- Incorporating techniques and materials that can withstand extreme climates and natural disasters into building construction.
- Forestry
- Developing new processes to create natural materials like charred wood, and exploring their potential applications in architecture and construction.
