Introduction
In the previous study, the latent selective factor of Finnish design professionals and laymen when choosing wood for living space was revealed through the analysis on the cognitive structure of wood for interior. Following the study, this paper aims to clarify the latent selective factor of Japanese design professionals and laymen.
Material & Method
As in the previous study, this study also included 12 different wood samples (4 different species: Finnish spruce: Picea abies, Finnish pine: Pinus sylvestris, and heartwood and sapwood of Japanese cedar: Cryptomeria japonica and 3 different finishing: plain surface, wax coating and oil finishing). 40 participants (10 people each from architect, interior designer, normal worker and student) were interviewed. The data was analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and correlation analysis to grasp the relationship between the cognitive elements and the preference.
Result & Discussion
From the result of the interview, 6 core categories and 26 detailed categories were extracted as the cognitive elements. These elements were analyzed by PCA. According to the results from PCA, both professionals and laymen basically recognized wood from the physical features such as tone, light and shade of color, shape and interval of grain, surface condition and weight.
As for the preference of wood for living space, the preference between professionals and laymen except normal workers was not necessarily dependent on the origin of wood unlike Finnish professionals and laymen (familiarity to wood). The result of correlation analysis explained that the preference was generally based on the visual impression, the degree of processing as well as atmosphere of wood. For instance, students and normal workers preferred wood with oil finishing even though normal workers clearly avoided heartwood of Japanese cedar. On the other hand, architects preferred heartwood of Japanese cedar and interior designer preferred white wood with natural surface though both clearly avoided wood with oil finishing. In the preference of both professionals and laymen, the different factors were observed.
The latent selective factors were investigated based on the result from PCA, the preference and the correlation analysis. The elements related to physical properties of wood could be commonly seen as the cognitive elements. The difference in the factors was that students also recognized wood from the point of “secular change” and normal workers chose wood in terms of “ligneous”. Each selective factor of professionals and laymen was as follows. Student: tone of color, heaviness, shape of grain, secular change, yellowishness, surface condition. Normal worker: tone of color, light and shade of color, interval of grain, ligneous. Architect: light and shade of color, heaviness, familiarity, surface condition, degree of processing. Interior designer: tone of color, light and shade of color, heaviness, stiffness, interval of grain, whiteness, yellowishness.
Conclusion
In this paper, at least 10 latent selective factors when Japanese design professional and laymen choosing wood for living space were revealed. These latent selective factors were related to color tone, light and shade of color, whiteness, yellowishness, heaviness, stiffness, shape and interval of grain, surface condition, degree of processing secular change, ligneous, and familiarity. In a future study, the effective measures for the utilization of domestic wood and the guideline to design wooden architecture will be investigated based on both studies from Japanese and Finnish professionals and laymen.
