Traditional Japanese townhouses machiya designed to cope with heat and earthquakes

Traditional Japanese housing is designed to cope with the extremes of summer weather in hot and humid climates. In other words, they are designed to live in harmony with the external environment by creating airy and open spaces. These houses also are built with earthquakes in mind. Below are some of the structural characteristics of old Japanese houses, called machiya.

Humidity control function

The walls of Kyo-machiya (machiya in Kyoto) houses are finished with “shinkabe-zukuri,” a finish in which the wooden pillars are exposed, and clay walls are painted. This construction method contributes to maintaining a constant level of humidity compared to other construction methods. In addition, shoji paper also has water-absorbing properties, making these elements essential for comfort during the humid and muggy Kyoto summers.

Lighting and ventilation functions

Machiya houses have many features for lighting and ventilation. The deeper-than-usual eaves adjust the amount of light that enters the room according to the season. In summer, the sun is blocked out, and in winter, light is let deep into the rooms. Intermediate areas, such as the veranda, use the air trapped in the space as insulation. Skylights serve as top light and release heat from the room. Courtyards, tsuboniwa, have a “chimney effect” that pulls air up by creating a flow of air inside the building due to the difference in atmospheric pressure.

Earthquake and seismic isolation structure

A machiya is constructed of wooden frames of various sizes and lengths, vertically, horizontally and crosswise, with little or no diagonal parts. The building is simply placed on the foundation stone without any bonding. The machiya is flexible enough to withstand seismic tremors, and the entire building can be lifted off the foundation stones to act as a seismic isolator to block energy.

Machiya, ultimate sustainable architecture

Machiya are constructed using only natural buiding materials. In the past, each component was replaced according to the cycle of each plant that served as a building material. Straw was replaced every year, and paper materials such as mitsumata, kouzo and bamboo were replaced every three years. When disposed of, they were used as fuel for the kilns, and the cycle continued until the end.

From these points of view, we can see that traditional Japanese houses are not only beautiful in design but also spiritually rich. Structurally, they are the ultimate sustainable architecture with the accumulated wisdom of our ancestors and are of high value.

The city of Kyoto offers a virtual tour of a machiya through their website for you to experience.