importing European and American architecture during the. Meiji era. ... building physics, indoor air quality, environmental science, human physiology and psychology, meteorology, mechanical and electrical equipment, and so on. In other ...
Architectural Institute of Japan
Editorial
Architectural studies as a comprehensive engineering discipline Japanese architectural studies (Kenchiku Gaku) started by importing European and American architecture during the Meiji era. The architectural studies in Japan have undergone a unique development in the form of integration with engineering, as mentioned by Prof. Takeuchi in the editorial note of Issue 3. In Japan, architectural studies can be broadly classified into planning and design (Keikaku), structural (Kozo), and environmental (Kankyo) fields. Among them, the structural field and environmental field are considered as engineering fields. The academic framework of the environmental field is architectural environmental engineering (Kenchiku Kankyo Kogaku). Architectural environmental engineering was once called the principle theory for architectural planning and design (Kenchiku Keikaku Genron). That is, it was considered the basic knowledge system necessary for planning and designing architecture. In other words, Japanese architectural studies have originally been developed in the form of a comprehensive study, which fused both design and engineering. Subsequently, they separated as each specialized field deepened. After that, the principle theory incorporated building services study and became architectural environmental engineering. Ideally, architectural environmental engineering is even more unique than other fields of architectural studies. First of all, it covers a very wide area. Architectural environmental engineering includes building physics, indoor air quality, environmental science, human physiology and psychology, meteorology, mechanical and electrical equipment, and so on. In other countries, it is common to require such fields to be outside of architecture, but in Japan, such fields are developed within architectural studies. It is easy to understand that architectural planning and design and structural engineering are directly related to architecture; however, architectural environmental engineering
includes many areas whose relation to architecture cannot be understood easily. For example, although it is easy for people to understand that some subjects of architectural environmental engineering such as heat transfer characteristics and moisture permeability of building materials, ventilation performance, piping and electric wires, lighting, air conditioning, and hygiene equipment are related to architecture, it is difficult to comprehend that subjects such as meteorological phenomena in the city, human psychological and physiological response to the environment, generation and transmission process of pathogenic bacteria, and so on are related to architecture. The latter subjects are usually treated as interdisciplinary subjects. However, we believe that it is necessary to include boundary areas to create better architecture. Therefore, in Japan, architectural studies are often referred to as a comprehensive engineering discipline covering all engineering disciplines. However, it is impossible to realize this comprehensive nature at the level of individuals; it is necessary for many people to come and work together. The Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) is a place where many people can exchange information and opinions. In addition, Transactions of AIJ is an archive of architectural research. In this issue, some papers from the Transactions of AIJ that are mainly related to the environmental field have been translated into English. I wish this would help many readers understand the achievements of the environmental field of architectural studies in Japan. Ryozo Ooka Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan doi: 10.1002/2475-8876.12060
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2018 The Authors. Japan Architectural Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Architectural Institute of Japan Jpn Archit Rev | 2018
