Measure and Construction of the Japanese House

Front Cover
Tuttle Publishing, 1985 - Architecture - 149 pages
A remarkable classic work on traditional Japanese architecture, and how the style and features can serve as a model for contemporary residential buildings.With incredible detail (as well as numerous architectural plans and drawings), author and architect Heino Engel describes everything from room functions and the flexibility of partitions to the influence of human anatomy on Japanese units of measure. Rather than exploring why the traditional Japanese house is built the way it is, Engel delves into the practical information: what the Japanese house is and how it is built.This book is not simply a description of the features of the Japanese house, but "an invitation to probe the possibilities of utilizing this architectural achievement of the Japanese...in modern living and building," according to the author, who further believes that the unique details of the Japanese house are better suited as a pattern for contemporary housing than any other form of residential structure. With a new foreword by architect and professor Mira Locher, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, this updated hardcover edition brings this popular work to modern readers--in hopes that they may find ideas to adopt into their own home.

About the author (1985)

Heino Engel studied architecture in Germany immediately following the end of World War II, then traveled through Egypt and Arabia, spent more than a year in India, Burma, Malaysia, and Thailand, before arriving in Japan. There, in his own words, he "realized that the Japanese house is as invaluable an experience for the contemporary architect as are the ancient Acropolis of Athens in Greece and the modern high-rise office towers of the United States." He remained in Japan for three years, concentrating on the study of the Japanese house, people, life, language, and culture, and also becoming a member of the Architectural Institute of Japan.