Transition and Sustainability of "the Kaneyama House" utilization of Local Wood in Kaneyama town, Yamagata prefecture

Abstract

In recent years, domestic wood is gaining attention from all over Japan. “Regional Housing” utilizes local wood, thus making original culture and landscape and having various influences on each mountain village. In Kaneyama town, Yamagata prefecture, they started the clean-up campaign (beautiful movement) in 1963, and have continued it since, and the rural landscape in Kaneyama is regarded as one of the most unique in Japan. One key element of this is “the Kaneyama House”. The Kaneyama House design which has continued from the Meiji period, has three main characteristics, the gabled roof, the white wall, and the Shin-kabe wall style. The people maintain their traditional townscape while also rebuilding and improving the Kaneyama hauses. This project, which is increasing in popularity, utilizes the local forestry industry, and continues to create new living environments and historical landscapes by using local resources. In this research, 170 newly-built examples of the Kaneyama Houses, built since the 1980's were studied. Each architectural plan and design was examined and the transition of living spaces and the townscape was analyzed. The following results were obtained: 1) the revival of the trend of the traditional style in facade design, 2) the discrepancy between modern housing plans and the traditional facade design, 3) the distribution difference of the Kaneyama Houses in each settlement. Finally, future assignments were considered.