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Kevin Matthews
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 679
Location: Eugene, Oregon
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jump
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 36
Location: tokyo, japan
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 Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 6:17 pm Post subject: japanese re-use |
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re-usability is a fantastic idea and anything we can do to make cradle-to-cradle philosphy part of the construction ethos is a step forward.
However, using the the Japanese timber frame as a model is mis-leading. While the traditional timber frame could be recycled it is with few exceptions never used that way. Demolished houses are simply turned into landfill and the idea of re-using stock is entirely alien to the culture as it exists today. In this world house values depreciate in the same way as automobiles do in north america so preserving any part of a building is a losing investment. In this case the issue is not technical it is cultural.
Moreover the old timber buildings are dangerous (from fire vulnerability and structural weakness) and a prime goal of the government is to replace all of the existing traditional wooden housing stock in tokyo with steel and concrete before the next big earthquake hits.
Now, the new housing stock, made from archigram-meets-martha stewart kits of parts are a more likely candidate for re-using, though they do tend to be ugly, and again the culture as it is doesn't see re-using stock in that way as a positive thing...
it will be interesting to see what happens in the next decades as japan's aging population declines sharply and the exisitng building stock becomes empty and obsolete... |
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