COMOS-Style for World

2010-01-25T02:17:00.001-08:00

"Japonism" is known as the taste of Japanese arts and craftworks that were very popular among the European people in the end of 19th century. Some impressionist artists like Van Gogh, were said to be influenced by "Ukiyoe", which is the Japanese woodblock print at that time.

I like the old Japanese houses. Nowadays that style is still close to us, but numbers have been decreasing, so we often hardly notice them. It's always darkest just beneath the lighthouse.

Here is an old residential house named "Yokoohji house" in the town of Fukuoka city. This house was initialy buit in the Edo period, but large-scale of reconstruction had already done. The large pillars and beams, earth wall, thatched roof, tiles...every natural materials often fascinate people.

The floor of beaten earth called "Tataki" is painted within this house. This material is made of filled soil mixed with lime and water. This material has thermal and cool storage capability. It makes the room temperature cool and opposite effect in winter. We can introduce this into modern houses.

You can see a rice oven in the photo below, we call it "Kamado", now we do not use it, but rice cooked in this oven is absolutely great, awesome! I hope you can try it.This atmosphere is a space for healing.

We still can use those materials which are wisdom of ancestors, and can reproduce the acient atmosphere to our modern houses. I hope so.

wooden floor

2010-01-19T04:18:00.000-08:00

I'm introducing the construction of a wooden floor of cherry blossom.

Something standing between each floor board, is a spacer prepared by our carpenter. These are strings for packing. The wood floor sometimes creak when the natural wood is contracted. Using this spacer, it gives space between the wood boards, as a result,it reduces being rubbed and creak.

This way comes from wisdom of carpenters to know the nature of trees.

I've learnt lots of things from carpenters at a construction site, better to learn from books.

Lime plaster factory

2010-01-14T19:24:00.001-08:00

In Japan we plaster on the wall using lime. Not many peopole do not use, because of its cost, but lots of people still prefer the natural material.

We call traditional lime plaster as "Shikkui". The origin of this name came from China long time ago. I've heard, one acient time, they called lyme as "Suk-wui" We put Chinese character on this pronunciation.

By the way, I'm surprised that lyme plaster was used at pyramid in Egypt, the Great Wall in China, Akropolis in Greece, Bombay ruins in Italy as a building material. It has had incredibly long history.

The other day, I visited traditional lyme plaster manufacture, Tagawa Sangyo Co., Ltd., and saw their factory. This company's products are used at most of famous castles in Japan like Osaka castle.

This is the limestone, raw material for lime plaster.

They calcinate this stone in the furnace in soil, which is rare, only two left in Japan, it effectively calcinate the stones. Then mixing rock salt into the furnace to produce fine powder and purelu white lyme plaster. I feel something like dignity from this facility.

Their factory looks like mostly barracks. Their policy let them spend most of cost to research & development. In those barracks, there is a enormous mechanical equipment which has the latest tecnology. You can't figure it out from only seeing the barracks.

Their calcinating furnace shows us they maintain their traditional way and wisdom of the ancients, on the other hand they have brand-new equipments, I mean they have both tradition and tecnology. It is worth seeing it. Located in Tagawa city, Fukuoka Japan.

Another wooden wall

2010-01-12T19:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time to renewal this blog. I'll try to write something down from now on.

We have another construction site of a wooden house which has woodern walls. Looks pretty cool, I like this one. Its color will be changing year by year, but it's gonna be like a color of driftwoods lying on the shors. I like the changed color of natural deterioration. Stone, mud, wood, paper ... those natural materials have that nature.

Unfortunately we normaly use artificial and mass production of wood materials, sidings. Wooden wall materials are expensive. The articial one does not have that beauty of natural deterioration. When it becomes old, just old and durty.

Inside of the building house, plasteres, we call them as "Sakan", were painting mud on walls. This material is a primer coat. After this, they'll put a topcoat with diatomite. This material shows natural textures of earth and have properties of moisture control, odor control, absorbing VOC and so on. It's really good for our health compare to use chemical materials.

People here in Japan, tend to think about these natural materilas, but actually, most of people do not use it due to its cost. I hope that people realize how important we use natural materials one day, and producers try to reduce the cost.

I think the situation is changing a little bit.

Wooden wall

2009-08-31T07:50:00.000-07:00

This is wooden sidig boards, natural materials. This product is imported from U.S.A, features are water and fire proof, wetherproof, anti-termite and so on.

Especially, in terms of fire proof, this product has excellent capability. This wood has been impregnated with fire-proof agent. This is only one product which is qualified as "semifireproof construction" under the Construction Standard Act.

This construction method is called "Yoroibari" in Japanese which finish of shape looks like armors, piling boards.
It's a troublesome work to do for carpenters.

This wooden product change the aspect of a house, more naturally. We have the problem of price. It's really expensive. I hope more reasonable products come into our market.

Anyway, you can see a cicada's pupa on the wall. Natural materials are always loved by people.

Work hours of architects

2009-08-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

How long do you work for? The architects in Japan work long time, sometimes neally midnight. It might be fate, if you are an architect. When working towards a dedline, we often work long hours. Saturday is not a holiday. Only on Sunday, we could have a break, if customers do not claim or call us. It is necessary for us to correspond to established and potential customers as soon as possible. The customer is not only one.

The matter mentioned above is quite normal for the architects in Japan. After working till late at night, we have only one thing to do... sleep. Even though working efficiently, we can't go home easily because other people are still working. Holly shit! People in Japan really attach importance to "cooperation", you have to help if they can not finish their work.

Not only for co-workers, but also customers, we sacrifice ourselves. "Cooperation", "patience" and "sacrifice" are still virture, this way of thinking still remains in this country. I doubt it. That's too much. Work is not to sacrifice myself. When I do not have time or room, it is not possible to pay attention enough for others. The person won't be made anyone happy though we are not happy.

Neither this system nor the tradition will change easily. I'll just keep on trying to change, keep on learnig to make this situation better.

How long do you work everyday?

Exterior walls construction

2009-06-23T05:07:00.000-07:00

You can see how the exterior walls construction is going as below. This material is an avarage ceramics and is made of minerals, mixing with fibers, we call it "special cement board".

Firstly, we put a sheet around a house, the sheet has moisture transmission and water proof capability. We then mount wooden bar, maybe furring strips in English. The bar also makes airway between sheets and wall to prevent the build-up of moisture in the wall.

After above, we put hooks on the bars to receive wall materials. We sometimes Knock in a nail to fix the walls, but nail mark is noticable. Better to use hooks.

Look at the space between the houses. How narrow! You can easily see like this case in Japan. It should not be easy work for the craftsmen.

Finally, sealing compound is mounted on the joints.

This is a typical wall material here in Japan. Our house used to be made of lime plaster, wooden board and local clay mineral or mud. I think lots of Japanese people prefer these natural materials to recent ceramic walls, but it costs a lot, we can't use it. The recent wall material is good at fire resistance to fire, strength and price.

We love natural wooden floors...

2009-06-18T01:31:00.000-07:00

Among our customers, pure wood floor is getting popular. The price is higher than plywood product, but quality is totally different. Basically, Japanese people prefer natural materials to artificial items, in case we don’t think about the price.

This floor is a walnut. I thought the color is little too white, but after putting beeswax, it becomes nice. There are knots and uneven colors, but it means natural, becoming interesting color pattern.

You can see the orange and white colored items in the wall, they are insulators. Its main raw materials are blast furnace slag, basalt and other rocks. Once those materials are molten in the oven, then working of its liquid slag into fibers and molding it into a sheet. The rock wool and glass wool insulators are widely used all over Japan. I privately like pure wool insulator, but it is not used so widely due to its cost.

Fitoncide from a wooden house

2009-06-12T03:24:00.000-07:00

The "phytoncide" is a coinage of Russian, it originally means, "Material that is released from the plant and kills other living things".

Cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin are the main constituent of wood, but there are others like sap, liquid, odor which are low molecular substances. These extracts are generally called "phytoncide".

Basically, it works as immunity for plant to protect itself against insects or bacteria, some others who are the obstruct growth of the plant.

1,8-cineol and α-pinene are one of the components of extract from wood. These elements relaxe people, and promote comfortable sleep. That is why we can relax in the forest.

Most of the Japanese detached houses are made of wood. We can say the timbered house is in the environment of relaxation because of the extract from wood. One old carpenter said, "Every day, we work surrounded with trees, our emvironment is like forest relaxation. Most of the carpenters are calm, on the other hand, the workman of a concrete often gets irritated."

One of the part of wooden house is floor. It also has extracts which can control tick cause of atopy. The natural wooden floor also can relax people, but artificial plywood can not. The natural items are really expensive, but if you do not care about knotty wood, or having parti-color, the floor can be more reasonable.

There are a knot and color because it is natural. If there are patterns in the floor, ceiling should be simple, then atmosphere will be well-balanced.

Bar arrangement

2009-05-28T01:34:00.000-07:00

I introduce you today, this is the site of bar arrangement before reinforced concrete construction. This is to make the foundation of wooden house.

These iron bars are arranged based on the regulation. The regulation provides that arrangement method, separation, joint lap length and diameter of bar.
The diameter of the bars is 10 - 13mm. The bars are reused iron from scrapped automobiles and others.

The inspectors do precise check like typical Japanese. Sometimes it's too much.
However, we follow the regulation and after the construction, Japan Inspection Organization who is authorized by Ministry of Land, inspects the conditions. We have to pass the inspection.

Recent years, most of the Japanese wooden houses have this type of concrete foundation. By the way, 70-80% of detached houses (for a family) are wooden in Japan. We still like the house made of wood.

We need a green!

2009-04-27T06:01:00.000-07:00

Recently, we put around our customer's garden with lawn. The areas are about 100 ㎡.　 We bought the lawn mats below at the DIY store.

The kind of the grass is himekouraishiba which is native grass. The price is 600 USD in total including sandy soil for keeping moisture in the lawn mats . This mat is 5USD per square meter.

There aren't lots of lawn fields that much in Japan. Even though around 60% of our land is greenary, we mostly have asphalt, concrete and soil surface in the city. The schoolyard, parks and gardens of our house are soil, no green. The reason could be a problem of the cost and maintenance for Japanese people. Japanese people dislike its maintenance, and when
the people buying house want to reduce the construction cost of the house, firstly they reduce a plant or a garden.

However, maintenance is actually not so hard, just using a lown mower in a month in case of the himekouraishiba. It becomes a good excercise.

I do not understand why Japanese people do not attach importance to planting and scenery of green. There is no recognition that the garden and planting improve one's standard of living.

There is an advantage more than the disadvantage of cost and maintenance. For instance, it is various effect such as cooling, improving child's physical ability, relaxing and so on. Houses also look better from greenary.

This is the lawn mat. I would like to know how you put the lawn in your garden.

Cherry blossom & Rapeseed

2009-03-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

Near our construction site, we could see cherry blossom and rapeseed located in Omuta city, Fukuoka. They are Japanese spring flowers. This conbination of pink and yellow colors are rare. It's worth to see it.

We can see this scenery for only a short time, because pink one are falling in a few week, yellow one will be fertilizer, we also eat this yellow. It's worth to see it.

In this season, Japanese people enjoy a picnic or BBQ under the cherry blossom, the most important thin is surely "Beer".

This below is called "Garyubai" which means "Lying down dragon". This name could come from its trunk shape like a dragon. Actually, it is a plum tree near this place.

We love these flowers because we could feel that spring is comming, and make us happy.

Floor materials

2009-02-25T03:49:00.000-08:00

The carpenters is putting piece of lumber on the floor. The material is a solid material of Cherry blossoms. Our customers, recently many people in Japan as well, prefer to the natural materials, for instant, oak, chestnut, cypress, pine, cedar and you name it.

You can see white pieces of tape which is a spacer that stands between the floor board that the carpenter prepared. It is a string basically used for packing. The solid material shrinks and expands because wood absorbs and desorbs moisture. This causes creaking sound of the floor. To reduce the sound, the spacer gives space that solid wood can move and reduces creaking.

The carpenters know the character of wood and make good use of their wisdom like the above mentioned matter. I can learn lots of things from them.

Insulator

2009-02-19T01:14:00.000-08:00

This is the site of installation of insulation. I took the photo from inside of our home which we are building at present. Between the pillars and braces, we fill the glass wool up. This glass wool is made of fiber glass, reusing waste glass. In Japan, we usually use glass wool, in other way, rock wool, real wool, urethane form can be used. Its performance must meet the specification of evergy saving standard.

In other part, we install the 50mm foamed polystyrene board underneath the roof. The part of white sheet has water-proof and moisture-penetration capability.

These insulators keep our home cool and warm through the year. Privately, I prefer nature materials to artificial items. What do we have? Wool, cellulose, hemp ..... I want to find something else.

Spirit of a carpenter.

2009-02-12T04:41:00.000-08:00

Here comes our carpenter. He has got justice, courage, courtesy and sincerity like Bushido. He is not talkative of the old school of craftsmen, he is still young though.

He is a capable carpenter, always tidy up a construction site and gives us many ideas.

He gave me a Belgian chocolate as my birthday present today. I am really proud of you, not because of the chocolate. We are so proud of your spirit, skills and attitude.

Construction site of prefabricated bath

2009-02-06T04:42:00.000-08:00

This is a construction site of a prefabricated bath. We, Japanese call it as "Unit bath", it should be Japanese English.

Its design is quite simple, but little boring. Privately, I prefer the traditional wooden bath to this one, but most of the Japanese bath is prefabricated bath due to its cost.

The bath is almost assembled.

Construction site of a Japanese wooden house

2009-01-28T03:59:00.000-08:00

Hi! I have attached the video using "You Tube" to show you our construction site of custom-order, wodden Japanese house. I was embarrassed and nervous though. I mainly explain structure of the house. For instant, every wooden part, hardwares and a carpenter.

The orange color on the pillars is pesticide against termites. It has to be painted on pillars and basements compulsory here. White sheet on the wall is like tyvek which has a capability of waterproof and moisture penetration.

Lime plaster tile

2009-01-19T04:35:00.000-08:00

Lime plaster is one of the traditional building material in Japan. This is used for wall, floor and mortar. In Japan, you can see this material in Japanese castles, old warehouse, Samurai houses and also modern houses.

Today I introduce you the tile of a long-established leading company of lime plaster. What is the difference from normal tiles. The tiles is basically baked by fire, but this one is not. The machine puts some tons of pressure per cm2 on tiles. After the tile becomes a product, it absorbs CO2 and strengdern the hardness year by year.

The strength is almost the same as marble, texture is softer but elegant. The price is lower. Functionally speaking, it is an incombustible material, antimicrobial, also controls humidity and absorbs odor or VOC because of its nano-sized porus structure.

The maker is starting to export this product overseas, I hope one day this is appreciated by people all over the world.

Asian ornament

2008-12-05T05:12:00.000-08:00

Hi there! I make some pottery statures having an asian taste. This kind of ornament works for making atomosphere of traditional Japanese style. It should be put in the shelf or niche space.

The photo on the left is one of the Buddism gurdian. The left below is a rough drawing of the next work which is immitated one of the Buddism god angering against evil and earthly desire.

The left below is the buddism goddess inserted in one photographic collection of traditional Japanese houses. From now on, I will try to make any clay statures all over the world. Please let me know your country's symbol or things which can be an ornament creating good atmosphere.

Our work of stained glass

2008-10-20T01:45:00.000-07:00

We make stained glass by ourselves for our customers. We sometimes use this as an accent light.

The wooden door and lattice, ivory colored wall, little tree and the light make a good combination of color and atmosphere around the porch.

This light consists of mainly amber colors and accent blue, using semitransparent plastic board the above and below the light.

I’ve heard we do not have a glass manufacture for the stained glass in Japan, we import the glass from USA. Do you have a colored glass and can export it to us more reasonably?

Stained glass to the Japanese way

2008-10-10T22:59:00.000-07:00

How's it going? Our wether is getting cooler, the color of leaves will be getting darker, red or brown.

Today, I introduce you one staind glass artist, and breathe Japanese style into the Western design. "Sanchi Ogawa"(1868-1928), he was an traditional Japanese-style artist, then learnt stained glass for seven years in the States and became a stained glass artist.

(Left) This is the window, mixed design of stained glass and Japanese lattice.

(Right below) Next one is also the window, combined stained glass and Japanese sliding paper door called "Shoji".

He expressed austere beauty and elegant simplicity,
we call it "Wabi-Sabi" in the glass.

We also recomend stained glass to our customers,
and use it as an accent lighting. We are keen to learn overseas design. Have a good day!

Structure of Japanese wooden houses

2008-09-24T04:33:00.000-07:00

Hola! Como esta usted? Today, I introduce you the structure of Japanese woodern houses.

The method of construction is called "frame construction" consisting of foundation, beam, pillar and diagonal grace, which are made of wood. These materials are already precut before construction. The structural part of normal house is built less than two days. Almost a half of the new houses uses this method here in Japan.

The above wooden materials has to be conected by the variety of hardwares to reinforce strength of houses under the Construction Standard Act.

Our houses have to resist hard Japanese climate, for instance, earthquake, tyhoon, heavy rain and flood. The woodern house absorbs and release the force from these natural disasters. On the other hand, there is a problem of typical Japanese high humidity. We have the problem of termite, fungi and mold. We always consider these matters when we design the houses.

I hope I can peep the structure of your houses. Adios.

Traditional celemonies

2008-08-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

Good day mate! Today, I introduce you about traditional Japanese celemonies during builing a house.

One is called "Jichinsai" in Japanese, it means ground breaking celomony, we ask the god of earth to have permission to use the land for buildings. We pray the god for keeping safety of construction.

The other is called "Joutoushiki", the ceremony of putting up the ridgepole. We show respect to the god of building and artificer, and are grateful for them.

When we have a celebration, we serve rice cakes to neighbors, throwing it out.

Do you have this kind of celemony in your country?

Introduction

2008-08-18T05:01:00.000-07:00

Howdee! I'm Masakatsu Nishitani from "Credes", a company combinding an architectural design office with a construction company. We design and built wooden custom-built houses. I'm writing to inform you that we're starting this blog to exchange information concerning architecture, our works, building materials, design and so on. We would be grateful if we can exchange any information between your country and ours. Check our works in our web-site at http://www.comos-style.com/. We're renewing it in this month, and an Englis page is comming soon. Let's enjoy information exchange with us!