In recent years, “energy-saving architecture (housing)” that considers energy usage and the environment has become the global standard.
According to this, we made our theme “passive architecture (housing)” suiting the climate of Japan.

If the global standard of controlling air-conditioning energy by high levels of air tightness and high heat insulation is brought into Japan without modification, this would be a disjointed and odd architectural choice.

“Seamless shell-covered architecture” is far from suitable to the type of hot and humid climate peculiar to Japan.

The Japanese author and Buddhist monk Kenko Yoshida said, “Summer heat countermeasures should be considered first and foremost when building a house.”
How are we to embody this attitude and take it into our future without fighting against the power of nature?
Many domestic architects are now considering the idea.

This project is a virtual plan of a house and office.
The plan is divided into a total of 3 buildings, a residence (main building + separate building) and an office.

• ○ A folded-plate roof over a wooden space

  A simple structure in which a metal folded-plate double roof (double pack), with heat insulation material in between, is hung on a conventional wooden frame construction made from pre-used wood (or a new solid wood SE method construction). The earthen floor and wood frame construction allow us to travel back in time.
  We estimate that renovation work in the future due to the deterioration of the building will mainly be replacing the folded-plate roof.

• ○ Utilizing disturbed soil from construction as outer wall material

  We believe that the idea of “local production for local consumption” should be included in the construction work. The normally unused soil produced by earthworks will be utilized in building a waist-high wall that will also have a heat-shielding effect. An artificial hill, which is formed by paving crushed stones onto the surface, also serves as an exterior structure. We will not include any conventional superficial values such as “Keep the building exterior beautiful and neat.”

• ○ The air-conditioning is a “dehumidifying radiant cooling and heating (24-hour operation)” system. Some humidifiers and dehumidifiers are used together.

  The basic idea is not only for summer, but for peak cuts in both summer and winter, to stabilize the indoor environment throughout the day and night, and to reduce the burden on the body. During periods of moderate temperature, the system can be turned off and windows can be opened. This type of system used to operated continuously for 24 hours in the past, but nowadays it is possible to switch between on and off due to technological progress

© KENSHI MATSUMOTO ARCHITECTS / Next Generation Housing Division