Keiji Shimizu—The House from the Perspective of Nature

I   私の「微気候デザイン」との出会い

■雑誌の表紙のためにデザインした建築

It was the 1990s. I was translating texts for The Japan Architect (JA) about works of Post-Modern architecture by architects like Frank Gehry and Rem Koolhaus. Bizarre buildings that looked like Cubist sculptures. “The big-name architects all design buildings ‘for the camera,’” an Irish architect friend told me a bitter laugh. “Architecture is like rock ‘n’ roll.”

■バブル崩壊。上昇するCO2排出量

It was a time of economic malaise. Rising carbon emissions were in the news. Japan was constructing golf courses in a rush while mired in a post-bubble economic collapse. In this harsh reality, Post-Modernism—an extravagant style of architecture born of the ‘80s economic boom—quickly faded and died.

II　登山家のアーキテクト、清水敬示

In these years, I met Keiji Shimizu, an architect with long experience as a mountaineer. He had spent his life in mountains and deserts, attuning his senses to the rhythms of nature. As an outdoorsman, he fell in love with the traditional Japanese house, and his knowledge of wind, rain, and the sun’s heat enabled him a clear understanding of the wisdom of its design.

「子供のころから慣れ親しんだ山旅。その道中で通り過ぎた山里にある美しい佇まいの集落に、いつしか心惹かれようになった。そして、山から麓へ下りてくると、里の集落に寄り道するようにもなった。周辺の自然環境を寄り添うように建てられた伝統的民家では, 現代のように潤沢に使えるエネルギーや設備機器がなくても、夏、心地よい涼しさを味わうことができた。」　

　　— 清水敬示、「はじめに」、『季節と寄り添う居を構える』から

In the sweltering, humid heat of Japan's summer, Shimizu experienced the cool comfort of traditional houses designed for openness to breezes from outdoors. Galvanized by that experience, he created a methodology for fusing their traditional wisdom with contemporary technology to enable comfortable low-energy houses.

「伝統的の住環境の作り方は、まず、建築外部環境に目を向けていることがあげられる。野外環境を工夫することにより、気持ちのよい室内環境を実現していた。」　

Microclimatic Design scientifically measures the natural forces affecting the site—the wind, rain and sun, and the functions of plants. Their beneficial aspects are then employed in designing a residential microclimate conducive of cool living in summer and warm living in winter. The roof's deep eaves, for instance, block the harsh rays of summer sun but allow in rays of the lower altitude winter sun. Plants keep ground temperatures cool in summer’s heat.

■チャーミングで美しい伝統民家。その裏に隠された知恵

When I met Keiji Shimizu, I was already charmed by the traditional Japanese house with its shoji doors and tatami mats. His methodology, however, revealed to me the wisdom behind those features—The shoji doors, whose paper diffuses light softly while absorbing summer humidity and preventing the entry of cold winter air; The straw tatami mats, warm in winter and cool in summer, which absorb and release moisture to maintain a suitable humidity level in all seasons; and the finely crafted joinery of the sturdy posts and great curved beams, which enables an open interior for air to freely flow through.

■二重、三重の役割を果たす工夫

Behind their beauty, the shoji, tatami, open building structure, heavy roof, and other features are doing double and triple duty to create a comfortable residential environment. The Japanese house, I thought, was a house that breathes with the seasons, never closing itself to the natural world outside. Swallows were welcome to nest on a beam inside.

III 清水さんの微気候デザインの始まり

「その後、四季を通して本格的に登山をするようになり、山中で泊まることが増えていた。雪深いラッセルに行程がはかどらず “日暮れて道遠し” の状況のなか、しかたなく露営するようなこともあった。」

In his youth, Shimizu had climbed mountains. With the alpine wind in his ears, he had walked down from the mountains and taken time to visit the aged traditional wood houses nestled at the mountains’ foot. Their openness to their natural surroundings and their coolness in the summer’s heat impressed him deeply. Growing older, he became a passionate mountaineer. He learned to read the air, wind, and sky, and acquired skills for survival in extreme weather.

「困難な登攀のさなか、極限状態のビバークなどもふくめ、ほんの一晩過ごすだけでも露営地にはこだわりを持ち、少しでも気持ちのよい場所を求め、探すようになった。マタギの技を身につけ、１０日でも２０日でもテントを持たずに四季の山々で自然に抱かれて暮らせるようになった。良好な微気候が形成される場所を無意識のうちに動物的な本能で見極めていた。」

With each bivouac, he took pains to locate a secure campsite, and developed an instinct for choosing comfortable, sheltered places to sleep in the wild.  

「四季を通じて、一つとして同じ条件の露営地で泊まるようなことはなかった。しかしその中で、もう一度泊まってみたくなうるような、気持ちのよい露営地がいつくかあった。その場所はたいてい、何か大いなるものにつつまれるような安心感がただよい、それは縄文人や先人が暮らした住環境のものと同じような落ち着いた雰囲気をもっていた。」

In time, traveling to different lands, he ventured into polar regions and lived in deserts, and experienced the traditional residential habitats of different cultures firsthand. Returning to Japan, he recognized how beautifully adapted its traditional houses are to the temperature extremes of its seasons.   

「20代の時、極寒の極地に足を踏み入れて、砂漠に暮らし、各地を旅することになり、気候風土と住環境との密接な関係を皮膚感覚で体験した。そうした体験をとおして、わが国季節感あふれる気候風土や、水と緑の豊かな自然とそこに暮らす人々の住環境にほかの国で味わえない美しさや気持ちよさがあることに気付き、愛着をもつようになった。」

■終わりに。自然の観点から、地球温度化にふさわしい現代の住宅デザイン

"The house should be built with the summer in mind. In the winter, one can live anywhere, but an inadequate house in the heat of summer is unbearable."

       14th-century poet and essayist, Kenko

Shimizu’s love of the traditional Japanese house was born from his love of the outdoors. The house's centuries-old wisdom, dating from the time of Kenko, is clear to him, because he has endured harsh climate extremes and can read nature’s signs and hear its voices. From direct experience, he knows how winds shape trees, how heat affects human health, and how species of birds and insects indicate changes in eco-systems.

Keiji Shimizu views our residential environment from the perspective of nature. Unlike architects in large firms, he knows the language of the nature. This makes him uniquely qualified to design comfortable, low-energy houses and communities for this uncertain age of global warming.