Elizabeth Herrmann Clads a Cornwall Home in Gendai Yakisugi

The charred cedar cladding on the Milo House, in Cornwall, Vermont, has been brushed once after its flame treatment, a step that softens the soot layer and exposes the grain still visible beneath the char. Architect Elizabeth Herrmann, of Elizabeth Herrmann Architecture + Design, chose the finish, called Gendai, from Nakamoto Forestry for a house conceived as a series of irregular, offset volumes rising through a dense stand of trees on a sloped hillside site.

Yakisugi is made from Japanese cedar, known as sugi, that is intensely flame-treated to improve durability, dimensional stability, and resistance to rot and pests. Herrmann has used Nakamoto Forestry’s cladding across her residential work, and for Milo House both she and the homeowners arrived at the material independently, early in the design process. The homeowners were after a low-maintenance, high-performance exterior, a goal the charred cedar met while also giving the house its bark-like surface.

Named for homeowners Nathan and Seth’s dog, Milo, the house occupies a site where orchards, woodland, and long mountain vistas shaped the design from the outset. The couple moved to Vermont from Boston, with Red House Building ultimately constructing the home.

“We were really interested in having the house feel natural, almost bark-like in tone and texture,” Herrmann says. “We love working with natural materials that have texture, patina, and depth of character.”

The home’s offset staggered forms respond directly to the site’s slope, its tree canopy, and long views west toward the Adirondacks. Rather than starting with a fixed floor plan, Herrmann let those conditions shape how the house unfolds across the site. The resulting spaces shift between more intimate rooms and cathedral-like interiors, with cross-ventilation incorporated throughout. The dark exterior recedes into the surrounding woods, while lighter interiors frame distant mountain views.

Inside, the dark exterior gives way to bright rooms filled with natural light, lighter wood finishes, and views framed through the trees. Lofted ceilings throughout the gathering spaces are paired with a wood acoustical treatment that softens sound within the tall rooms. For Herrmann, the contrast between the charred exterior and lighter interiors is accompanied by another consideration: how the material will change over time.

“With any natural material, there’s a conversation about how it will age,” Herrmann says. “The point of yakisugi isn’t for it to stay frozen in time. It’s a living material designed to evolve.”