Craftsmanship and DIY

I was born 60 years ago in Itabashi, Tokyo, in the house I still live in. Looking back, from the hobby of building pigeon coops in my junior high school days until this latest renovation, I have expanded, remodeled, reduced the size, and renovated the house a total of six times to accommodate my marriage and the growth of my children, and each time these traditional wooden houses have precisely met the needs of me and my family at the time.

The building materials are natural materials such as soil, wood, and paper that are not polluting the environment, and the ingenious structure that accepts the benefits of nature to the maximum extent and softens the harshness of nature is a typical example of a ZEH (Zero Energy House), although it must be complemented by insulation and airtightness. The main elements are the veranda terrace with what is now called a double skin structure located on the south side, the attic space covered with deep eaves and Japanese tile roofing that overhang the south, and the planning composition of various elements that were devised to protect the indoor climate of the main living room. The refreshing feeling of the breath of coolness in the underfloor space that I felt when checking the foundation soundness in midsummer, and the blessing of the sunlight in the attic space that I felt when reinforcing the earthquake resistance in early winter, made me feel the origin of the excellent environmental performance. Furthermore, although it is a traditional wooden construction method, the joints have hardly deteriorated at all even after 50 years, which confirmed my expectations for the seismic damping performance.

Through this renovation, we have renewed our hopes for the inheritance and development of the essence of traditional wooden architecture as a unique culture that we can be proud of, especially in today's world where protecting the global environment has become a top priority. At the same time, we have also come to realize something else: the importance of the will to try things yourself and the significance of actual experience.

In today's internet society, we can instantly access any information from around the world without any trouble. On the other hand, in the service industry and manufacturing sites, there is a strong demand to efficiently provide high-quality services and products at low cost under the severe over-competition, and the manual strategies used by cutting-edge American companies in their global strategies are naturally being implemented excessively. The construction production process is no exception.

In a society drowning in the internet, tied up by a huge number of manuals, not allowed to let the imagination soar or to think back to basics in the name of efficiency, the dreams and thoughts that should come from the bottom of the hearts of young, capable people, as well as the strength and courage to realize those thoughts, are easily drowned out by the barriers of modern society. If there is a panacea or key to this situation, it lies in the mentality born from the desperate environment of the Japanese who rose from the burnt ruins of the early Showa era and the Americans of the Western frontier, who believed that "we cannot survive unless we think and act for ourselves," and in the human strength and toughness of those who have accumulated real-life experiences.

Considering the current state of the world, nostalgia for the past will not solve the problem, so why not think about and implement a "DIY movement" from small parts that you can do yourself? Touching various materials with your own hands, actually processing and destroying them, and learning the characteristics of the objects you obtain with your hands and senses is an extremely primitive but important and enjoyable thing.

Due to the nature of my job, I have taken for granted the work of craftsmen backed by experience and skill, and sometimes have objected to their workmanship. This time, however, I devised my own ideas, bought the materials, and worked hard to carry out the work within the limited time constraints. The result, of course, cannot be compared to what a craftsman could create using his skills. However, the ugly details that I put my own thoughts and energy into are strangely endearing, and at the same time, they seem to shine.