STUDY ON THE EARTHQUAKE COUNTERMEASURES ON THE DESIGN OF J. CONDER'S WORKS

Abstract

 J. Conder came to Japan in 1877 as a hired foreigner, was involved in the design of more than 100 architectural works until his death in 1920, and he also conducted a number of surveys and proposals for earthquakes that frequently occur in Japan, earthquake resistance of buildings, and geological surveys. However, there has been no report of earthquake countermeasures on the design surface performed by Conder. By the way, Conder made the following reference in his speech given under the title of “The Practice of Architecture in Japan” at the 3rd regular meeting of Zoka-gakkai held on July 14, 1886. In other words, in this speech, he avoids the use of the following as an earthquake countermeasure in the design of brick buildings.

 1) projecting cornices

 2) ornamental parapets

 3) corbelled turrets

 4) non-circular arches

 And he used iron bands for the arches. There are four problems that Condor points out as "avoidance" in design. Did Condor actually "avoid" these points when designing in Japan? There has been no study on that point. The purpose of this article is to clarify the effects of the earthquake on the design aspect of the architectural works by Condor up to 1886, when the speech was made, and in the Meiji 20's. The following points were clarified.

 In the works made by Conder until 1886, 1) cornice was used consistently, 2) there was no parapet, and 3) the turret was limited to the Ueno Museum and Tokyo Fukkastu Daisedo. In addition, 4) non-circular arches were confirmed in 10 cases, and 8 cases were implemented.

 Looking at Condor's discourse on earthquake countermeasures, in the "A Few Remarks upon Architecture" written in 1878 immediately after coming to Japan, it was just a warning about the earthquake, but in "Zoka Hikkei" after 1882, he described the need for careful closeness as an earthquake countermeasure for cornice and parapets.

 In Conder's work of the 10th year of the Meiji era, it was common for the tie beam to be placed on the upper part of a brick wall and the cornice was placed in front of it, but after 1892, the tie beam was placed on the cornice. With such an arrangement, the cornice will not be pushed out from the back by the tie beam during an earthquake. The timing of the change can be judged to be the Nobi earthquake in 1891.