Asian architecture

Asian Architecture (ARC60403/ ARC 2234) PROJECT 1: CASE STUDY PAPER

ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

NAME: Muhammad Nabeel Ali Joomun STUDENT ID: 0320583 TUTOR: Sharianne Mohd Shah

ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

Table of content

Page

Abstract

2

1.0.

Introduction

3

2.0.

Importance of thermal comfort in Japan

4

3.0.

Thermal comfort and natural light in the traditional machiya house 3.1. Achieving thermal comfort 3.2. Natural light

5 5 6

4.0.

Adaptation and innovation in the Machi house 4.1. Introduction of the Machi-house 4.2. Adaptation and innovation in the Machi-house

7 7 7

5.0.

Responding to the problems faced in city centers

10

6.0.

Conclusion

10

7.0.

Reference

11

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ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

Abstract The aim of this study is to show how sustainability is attained in the design of houses found in the densely packed cities of Japan. There is the need for the thermal condition of a Japanese house to adapt to the different seasons. Also, since the houses are usually surrounded by tall buildings, lack of sunlight could be a problem to bring natural light inside.

Literature reviews, based on various sources, were conducted to show the design strategies, involving spatial organization, of traditional and modern Japanese houses. The Machi-house, found in Hiroshima, was chosen as the case study to explain more about the topic. The Machi- house is based on the traditional Machiya house. The latter is the best example of the use of spatial organization to achieve thermal comfort and natural illumination. To get an idea of how thermal comfort is achieved, two climates in Japan are taken into consideration; summer and winter. Only these two are considered because they are the hottest and coolest seasons, respectively. During summer, the Machi-house uses a combination of cross and stack ventilation to cool down the ground floor and first floor. These ventilation system is the result of having a linear shape and the presence of a courtyard in the middle. The interior does not have a lot of walls as this can disturb the ventilation flow. During winter, the doors in the Machi-house are closed so as to prevent any cold air flow inside. Since they are made of glass, sunlight will be able to warm up the interior. This concept was used in the traditional Machiya. The difference is the material used. In the Machi-house, there are glass louvres on top of the courtyard. These are also closed to prevent heat loss. The Machi-house uses a lot of skylight and glass wall, positioned at strategic place to ensure proper illumination, coming from the top, in the house. The courtyard is the area where most light come from, just like the traditional Machiya’s courtyard. This comes to the conclusion that the Machi-house kept most of the design strategies of a traditional Machiya, in terms of spatial organization, with some modifications which can make thermal comfort more effective and improve natural illumination of the spaces.

1.0 INTRODUCTION 2|Page

ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

Between the years 1568- 1880 (during the Moyama period, the Edo period and the Heian period) different types of houses have been developed in the towns and villages. The most prominent one are the Shoin- zukuri style houses and the Machiya houses. The Shoin houses were created by the samurai. It was heavily influenced by the Zen Buddhism concept.

It consisted of dwelling houses, protected by fences and was used by the samurai, military and aristocrats. The machiya house is a two-storey house which is long and narrow, in shape and is located close to other machiya houses. It was found in the, grid arranged, town of Kyoto. It was used by the typical town people which consists mostly of merchants and craftsmen.

Just like the “hutongs� of Beijing, the machiya houses were grouped together closely, sometimes having small alleys in between. Being close to each other, allows for more space for the growing population and also strengthens the community relationship. To fit comfortably in the long and narrow spaces, careful space planning was needed. The fact that it is found in a closely packed space, there is the need for a design strategy to allow good ventilation and natural illumination in the house. This was achieved through the spatial planning of the house.

Nowadays, traditional Machiya houses are decreasing in number because it is quite expensive to maintain. Most of them are destroyed to accommodate other buildings or houses. There are some which are renovated so as to keep the value and history of Japanese architecture. The renovated Machiya are adapted with new design strategies and technology so as to solve problems faced before by the people living in the Machiya.

Figure 1. Traditiona machiya house. Source: https://www.japlusu.com/shop/product/jutakutokushu-200902

This paper will find out how sustainability is attained in the design of the townhouses by responding to the following questions: 1. Why is thermal comfort an important factor in Japan?

2. How is thermal comfort and natural illumination achieved during summer and winter in the traditional Machiya?

3. How does spatial organization affect the ventilation and illumination in the Machihouse?

4. What new innovations, in the Machi-house, are made for better thermal comfort and natural illumination compared to traditional Machiya?

5. How does the spatial organization of the Machi-house fit into the context of the city centers?

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ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

2.0. Importance of thermal comfort in Japan Thermal comfort is one of the factor that contributes to a good health and well-being. It is achieved when the air temperature, humidity level and air velocity are balanced.

Among the 4 seasons in Japan, summer and winter needs to be considered when designing a house since they are the hottest and coolest seasons in Japan, respectively. Therefore, there is a need to make the people living in the house feel neither too hot or too cold by making the design adapt to the changing temperature and humidity.

Figure 2. Average high/low temperature in Japan. Source: http://www.holiday-weather.com/tokyo/averages/

3.0 Thermal comfort and natural light in the traditional Machiya house 3.1 Thermal comfort 4|Page

ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

During summer, the interior of the Machiya house needs to be ventilated. Since it has a linear, long and narrow, shape and is located between other houses, the only way wind can go in the house is through the front faรงade, facing the street, and the back. Therefore, openings are made at the front and back. To allow the wind to ventilate the entire space of the house, sliding doors are used inside. During summer, the they are open to allow cross ventilation through the house. The spatial organization inside changes when the sliding doors are open/closed, which allow more control on the airflow and temperature inside.

The traditional machiya house has a courtyard which originated from the courtyard houses in China, during the early dynasties. The courtyard is a small area which is open to the sky. This helps in cooling down the the house, during summer, through stack ventilation.

Figure 3. Traditional machiya ventilation. Source :http://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/3/3/588/htm

It allows the warm air, from the house, to evacuate to the outside. The position of the courtyard is usually on the side and middle of the house. This way, the wind coming from any direction will be able to go through it and this creates a combination of cross and stack ventilation.

During winter, the multiple sliding doors inside the house are closed. This prevent the air flow through the house so as to keep it warm. The multiple doors also act as an insulation. The result of closing the doors changes the spatial organization of the house which makes it more closed compared to the open interior during summer. There is also a sliding door separating the courtyard and the interior of the the house. When it is closed, it prevents the warm air from escaping, thus keeping the interior warm.

3.2 Natural light The main source of natural light comes from the courtyard and the front faรงade. The tatami room contained very minimal furniture, allowing the people to move around the room to appropriately lit spaces. The houses use the same design strategy of sliding doors to 5|Page

ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

control the amount of sunlight coming in the house. Since the different rooms are separated by only sliding doors and screen walls, the spaces change when the doors are open and this allows more natural light to go deeper in the house.

The courtyard provides a lot of natural light, as it is open to the sky. This illuminates mostly the middle area of the house, as the courtyard is usually placed there. There is also a skylight in the kitchen which provides light and also extracts smoke from cooking away. It can be concluded that it is the way the space is organized that helps to illuminate the interior of the machiya house.

Figure 4. Natural light form courtyard. Source:http://www.thedifferences.it/web_uk/component/sobi2/? sobi2Task=sobi2Details&catid=3&sobi2Id=55

Figure 5. Natural light from the street.

Source: http://www.japantalk.com/jt/new/japa nese-houses

4.0.

Adaptation and innovation in the Machi house 4.1. Introduction of the Machi house (case study building) 6|Page

ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

Located in Fukuyama, the Machi house was designed by Keisuke Maeda, from UID Architects. It measures 5m by 18m and is built in a site area of 95.41 sqm which is located between a high-rise parking and an old house. The concept of the house is a modern interpretation of the traditional machiya house. It is a 2 storey house with the same long and narrow shape, which fits in the grid shape of the town.

Figure 6. Machi house. Source: http://www.archdaily.com/285165/machi-house-uid-architects

4.2 Adaptation and innovation in the Machi house Thermal comfort The Machi-house follows almost the same spatial organization layout as the traditional machiya. The interior is mostly open inside without many walls except for spaces like the bathroom and bedroom (Figure 9). This obstacle free layout allows the whole house to be ventilated easily. The building-wind comes from the part facing the street and goes through the building through the louvres, sliding door and the balcony on the first floor.

There is the presence of a small courtyard in the Machi-house. This allows the stack ventilation to take place, just like in the traditional machiya house, which removes the warm air from the house. The ventilation can be felt when the breeze goes through the courtyard garden, making the leaves tremble (Archdaily, 2012).

7|Page Figure 7 Cross and stack ventilation in the Machi-house

ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

During winter, the

same concept of closing the openings in the traditional machiya is used in the Machi house. The doors and louvres are closed so as to prevent wind from flowing and ventilating the interior spaces. However, using only the system of “closing openings� in the traditional machiya house was not very effective in Figure 8 Louvres on top of the reaching thermal comfort during winter. The reason courtyardcould be because of the material used to build the houses which were not very good at insulation to prevent heat loss. In the modern Machi-house, the problem is addressed by the use of concrete and insulating materials. Additionally, the courtyard is not completely open to the sky. There are louvres at the top which can be closed during winter so as to prevent heat loss. There are also larger openings, like glass sliding doors, which are used. This brings in more sunlight which helps in heating up the interior.

Figure 9 Ground and first floor plan of the Machi-house. Source: http://www.archdaily.com/285165/machi-house-uid-architects

Natural light 8|Page

ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

The traditional machiya was able to make use of natural light to illuminate the spaces.

However, there were still some area which were not properly lit as the people living there had to move to around the room to a lit space. This problem was due to the available material at this time and construction method. The Machi- house also made use of the courtyard as main source of natural light. The spaces, like the traditional machiya, didn’t have many wall or obstacles which could prevent the illumination of interior spaces. In addition, the house uses a lot of skylight which allows more natural light inside (Figure 11).

Some spaces, like bathroom and bedroom, uses large windows at specific places to allow light and maintain privacy (figure 12). This was not possible in the traditional machiya house since glass was not much available at that time. The position of the rooms also is different from the machiya houses.

Figure 12 Natural light (from the courtyard) in the bathroom Figure 10 Natural light trough the machiya house and Machi house

5.0 Responding to the problems in city center

Figure 11 Natural light near the courtyard. Source: http://www.archdaily.com/285165/machi-house-uid-architects

The main problem faced by houses located in city centers is the densely packed high-rise buildings. These most of the time blocks the sunlight and prevents houses or other smaller buildings to make use of natural illumination. Having windows on the elevation of the building would be useless since the adjacent buildings cast shadows there. Therefore, the Machi-house overcame this problem by capturing the sunlight coming from the top, since there is nothing above the house that blocks the sunlight. This was possible by the use of skylights and double volumes in the house to allow light to be distributed everywhere. This also helped in warming the house during winter but is however a problem during summer.

9|Page Figure 13 Solving the problem of lack of natural light. source: http://www.archdaily.com/285165/machi-house-uidarchitects

ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

6.0 Conclusion Most of the design strategies used in the traditional machiya houses prove to still be effective when adapted in contemporary architecture of town houses. This also shows that a simple strategy, which is spatial organization, can help to passively achieve thermal comfort and natural light. While doing this, Japan is going towards a more sustainable architecture, inspired by the vernacular architecture. The Machi-house also solved the problem of lack of space in the growing city of Japan, all while keeping its sustainability.

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ACHIEVING THERMAL COMFORT AND NATURAL ILLUMINATION THROUGH SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERN MACHI-HOUSE, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.

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