Shuichi Matsumura

Analysis of Façade Engineering in Japan

Japan is currently leading the world in many aspects of facade design and cladding technology development. Many buildings feature the latest technological and environmentally friendly concepts that provide Japanese architects with new possibilities to create impressive and innovative schemes. However, despite such advances and designs, facade engineering in Japan is still problematic. The reasons generally stem from the fact that this field is still evolving, and the function of the facade changes from project to project. In addition, the exact role of the engineer in facade design has yet to be clearly established. In this paper, three models will be presented and discussed: 1) facade engineering managed by general contractors; 2) facade engineering supported by specialized subcontractors; 3) facade engineering through collaboration between architects and engineers. We put Japanese facade engineering into better perspective by analyzing the status of the current field of facade engineering. As this is a developing field, new models must be established. Until that is accomplished, Japanese design and engineering of facades will remain divided and inconsistent. This paper highlights the causes of the problems and hopes of proposing a possible alternative for the future.

Research and Development on the Database for Visualizing Invisible Parts of Wooden House in Japan

This paper introduces the database to provide common information of existing wooden houses, which the authors have been trying to establish under a national project for promoting the second-hand market of existing houses in Japan. In Japan, 2010, we have about 58 million houses, of which about 50 million are occupied and used by households. This means that houses in Japan are more than enough according to statistical data. Now we need to utilize existing houses, handling with methods of renovation and distribution. One of the most important points is that we can easily get technological information of a house to keep on using and utilizing through renovation work. But actually it is not easy to get information sufficient for renovation and distribution before partial demolition work. Therefore, the authors are trying to establish the database, which provide information about materials and construction methods of a wooden house and visualize parts of wooden house like structure, inside of wall, floor and base where it is difficult to see and inspect from on-sight investigation. This paper introduces not only the outline and the way of using of the database for visualizing invisible parts of wooden house, but also progress status of research and development.

WOODEN ROOF TRUSS IN WAR DAMAGE RECONSTRUCTION OF TOKYO STATION

On our site, I investigated wooden roof truss of Tokyo station that were built at war damage reconstruction. It became clear that the wooden roof truss is ‘Modern wood truss’ studied and developed in 1930-1945 age before and during World War II. In this paper, the form materials and the joining method of the wooden roof truss are made clear. In addition, it was clear about engineer who was concerned the wooden roof truss construction of Tokyo station.

RESEARCH ON ORGANIZATION OF CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM OF PREFABRICATED WOODEN HOUSES

The prefabricated wooden houses have grown up rapidly along with high-speed economic growth. However, there is actually a current state that the construction on the site has not standardized and rationalized while the production in the factory has been standardized. In this research, it aims to well organize construction of the prefabricated wooden houses. So the construction on the site has been investigated. Through the site investigation, work analysis was done for four prefabricated wooden houses with the wood panel bonding industrial method. In this paper, whether the difference of productivity exists or not and the reason why the difference of productivity exists is made clear. The productivities of each kind of construction work are analyzed quantitatively. It also has been understood that carpenter occupied the majority work of the site on the man-hour. The man-hour of each construction work was different. Many reasons made the difference, such as the delivery of panel, the situation of the site, work efficiency, work method, etc. At last, some proposals to decrease the man-hour and enhance the productivity are shown.

‘PRE-CON’ IN WAR DAMAGE RECONSTRUCTION OF TOKYO STATION

Our detailed site investigation on the war damage reconstruction of the Tokyo Station, it was revealed that a lot of “Pre-Con” components were used. “Pre-Con” is the precasted concrete truss construction system developed during and after the war. In this paper, the range and the method of “Pre-Con”’s use in the war damage reconstruction are made clear. In addition, it was assumed that it was clear about introduction process and engineer who concerned with introduction.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF BUILDING COMPONENTS IN THE RENOVATION MARKET

This paper aims to discuss the distribution of building materials by home improvement centers. Based on the analysis of Commercial Statistics and the questionnaire survey for them, the following three points are clarified: Firstly, the market of them is growing up and dispersing stores more. Secondly, their stores are categorized to two types. One is used by general consumers and the other is by small constructors. And finally, many of the latter are flagship stores built in suburbs. They have more skilled stuffs and supply general consumers better services for renovating their houses and small constructors better building materials.

How Have CAD-CAM Systems Changed Japanese Conventional Wooden Construction in These Three Decades?

The new house-building market in Japan can be divided into two parts. A half is occupied with detached houses built by large prefabricated house manufacturers as well as rather small local builders. The composition of the detached house-building market is: A little less than 20 % occupied with prefabricated house manufacturers, a little less than 10 % with North American platform construction builders ,a little less than 70% with conventional wooden house builders and the rest with other kinds. While order-made houses are mainly built in each of these three categories, prefabrication and industrialization have been advanced in each category so far. In this paper the state-of-the-art of such prefabrication and industrialization especially in the field of conventional wooden house-building is made clear. The major means of industrialization of conventional wooden house-building have been the application of CAD-CAM systems for processing wooden posts and beams. In this paper, the application of CAD-CAM in such a conventional field and its effects are clarified after a historical review on its technological development and its diffusion process.

Methodology of Mobile Computing in Construction Management

This paper reports the development of mobile computing in construction management. The paper focuses on the methodology of the development based on EUC. First, the paper indicates the effectiveness of EUC in construction projects. The authors introduce design pattern of user interface and the use of UML for EUC. Secondly, the paper describes the process of development of PDA Inspection Support System for Finish Work with UML. User interface is an interface between users and computer-aided system, and can be one between users and system developers. In the developed system, user interfaces are classified to some design patterns with the use of control function such as list, option button and scroll bar. End users can customize and combine them freely. As a result, they can make their own flowcharts. System developers can build computer-aided systems with them easily and quickly. The paper also shows the effectiveness of the system. Finally, the paper summarizes this methodology and concludes the effectiveness.

Housing production system in the Tokyo urban area

In most research and Government studies done in the past regarding housing production in Japan, housing suppliers, including builders and manufacturers, were regarded as being essentially the same throughout Japan. There are considerable differences in the housing market and house features depending on the area, and moreover there are different types of builders with peculiar problems in their technology and organisation. Therefore, the past assumptions and approach are now seen as inappropriate. It is necessary to make a factfinding study on the regional features of housing and the diversity of builders. This research is a part of the research on regional housing production systems, carried out based upon the above-mentioned regionalism in house production. The research focuses on multi-purpose three and four storey buildings, which have increased remarkably in number in the last few years. The aim of this research is to define a typology of builders, and the points that should be improved in the construction business of these buildings.