3 architecture design details I learnt after coming to Japan

1. Sick building syndrome: As our homes become more and more comfortable, prompting us to rarely open windows and doors, sick building syndrome has also become prevalent in homes and not just offices. The indoor air quality gradually reduces when the complete cycling of air is incomplete. To combat this,Japanese homes have vents is located in rooms of high occupancy, as well as doors that come with the function to open vents. This understanding of human psyche and the recognition of the shift in culture shows that architecture is not about blinding following the set patterns and hoping that people conform to design.

2. Understanding vernacular architecture: In today’s architecture climate vernacular architecture, in people’s mind, has either become something to preserve or forget. Some of the best ‘post-modern’ architecture, is the architecture which learns from the old and incorporates it into the new, trying to balance the environment and the modern comforts. In Japan this postmodern movement can be seen in the manipulation of wind and its properties. Old Japanese homes manipulated the wind to direct throughout the house and create fresh ventilation; drawing wind from the ground floor and raising it through the house to ultimately escape from the attic space. After the construction phase this is hard to see in modern Japanese homes, but if you are lucky enough to see the construction phase be on the lookout for these types of wall battens with air gaps in between. These should go all along the wall to the ceiling, giving the air a channel to move along the outer envelope of the home and escape from the roof.

3. A summer and winter home: A simple vernacular technique that persist even today, the removal of summer doors which have a mesh to bring air inside and keep insects outside, are replaced with winter doors (shoji doors) which have paper or glass panel to retain heat and prevent heat flow. Small changes such as this create an active building envelope rather than being static and relying on mechanical devices.