Architectural Design Materials Integration (Meeting Citizens Service Section)

Author: Compiled by the Japan Institute of Architecture
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: As described in the Brief History of Architectural Design Data Collection, the Japan Institute of Architecture's this data collection has undergone a long history. After concluding the last major revision, it has taken another step toward a comprehensive revision today, more than 17 years into the turn of the century. This cannot be said to be accidental, but also a necessary opportunity. In June 2000, the Japan Institute of Architecture, along with four other architecture-related organizations, formulated the "Charter on Earth Environment and Architecture." As mentioned in the charter, due to considerations for the earth's environment, in order to achieve a society of sustainable circular development, it is required to transform thinking in all aspects of architectural and urban planning, construction, use, and inheritance. Exaggeratedly speaking, to this day, we still face the challenge of overcoming the design methods of modernist architecture. The transformation is not merely limited to the new buildings that arise from this, but must also necessarily involve the evaluation of existing resources and the recognition of resource regeneration. According to this perspective, the revision of the architectural design data collection can be likened to the renewal of a building. For the data required in design, to possess temporal stability and necessity, it is necessary to accumulate new data generated in research, technology, and practice over the long term. Until now, the revisions have focused on comprehensively updating and expanding the data that includes the results of "design and technological development research." For such a large-scale work containing such vast amounts of data, a complete and comprehensive revision is required. The last revision and publication took five years, with preparatory work also lasting no less than five years. This time, the past revision process was re-examined, and the editing method of structuring each volume around different themes was reevaluated. First, a comprehensive volume was set up to be placed on the desk, compressing a large amount of information into stable, long-term-use basic data. At the same time, supplementary content that could not be included due to the page limit of the comprehensive volume was compiled into an extended volume, used to collect highly evaluated architectural environmental quality cases from around the world, as well as to expand and update information accumulated in annual development practices. These two points are the framework of this revision. Additionally, the extended volume also adopts new publishing media methods that have developed significantly in recent years. Currently, it is planned to publish 13 volumes, but as shown by the meaning of the extended volume, new supplements can be added as needed. In summary, through these two steps, in the already published architectural design data collection, most of the content is concentrated on collecting new information, transforming related architectural information into necessary knowledge, and preventing past information and examples from becoming outdated. Therefore, our goal is that the comprehensive volume is fundamental, serving as a desk tool that provides inspirational knowledge and information, while the extended volume provides specialized, practical information based on the purpose of use, with the nature of a design manual. This collection began publication in 1986, and at the same time, a [Pocket Edition] was published for architecture beginners and laypeople as needed, with a note indicating the intention to continue revisions.