Lightly charred timber clads the walls of Sayang House, a house conceived by designer Carlos Gris for an aunt who had returned to UK after 20 years abroad.
Gris designed the home for his aunt Gretta Funnell, who decided to leave her home in Malaysia and move to the Cambridgeshire Fens to be closer to her sister following the death of her husband.
The house is single-storey with a large roof terrace
Gris wanted to make connections to Asia in his design for Funnell's new home, a minimal building with glazed facades and an overhanging roof.
For the exterior walls, he specified a Japanese technique known as shou sugi ban, which involves charring the wood to give it texture and a natural layer of protection against decay.
The exterior is clad in wood that has been lightly charred While this technique usually blackens the wood, here it gives the material a rich brown tone.
"We went for this brown coloured shou sugi ban and it really does sit it into the fen marshlands," said Carlos in a video about the house.
"I hope that it captures a serenity, a calmness that I think she'd been looking for," he said.
The charring technique, called shou sugi ban, helps to protect the wood
Sayang House featured in the recent series of UK television show Grand Designs.
It is built next door to the home of Gris' parents. In order to build it, the couple sold a portion of their land to Funnell.
Floor-to-ceiling glazing features in every room
The two buildings are distinctively...