sdaarchi SDA Architect The Traditional Japanese House and Architecture | SDA Architect

The Traditional Japanese House and Architecture

07 Sep 2015
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 The houses are traditionally timber house plans. Some of oldest houses dated from the 16th Century. These houses are now in museums which is an object of study by craftsman and builders.

The plan of the house and how it is used also remain traditional. Only the kitchen and sometimes the place for eating meals are modern; the other rooms, for working, sleeping and social intercourse, remain true to tradition. The floor is covered with straw mats (tatami); the family kneels at low tables to eat and drink, and they sleep on the floor as from time immemorial. <4>

Thus living in the Japanese style broadly implies adherence to tradition, just as we would do if we dwelt in modified chalets in our central European cities. The architect, as a ‘creative’ designer, has no part to play in the traditional housing of Japan. The craftsman designs the house according to ancient traditional rules, as was the case for centuries in our mountain valleys.

The Design of The Traditional Japanese House
The Traditional Japanese House has view into the garden, the house is flexible , the strength  of the house and the beauty of the house is amazingly well built all together that creates a wonderful and comfortable ambiance as one enters into the The Traditional Japanese House. The comfortable feeling is what Architects try to create, a feeling that put you to ease as you are inside the home.

 a)Views into the garden

The houses are design for views in to the garden, balconies are surrounded with cuts the sun and the harsh weather in the homes. Balconies are essentially a major feature of the Japanese House.

b) Flexibility

The partition made of light material to allow flexibility of the use of room. A living room could be the dining, or even a common family area. Sliding Shoji Screens are common.

 c)Strength of structured

The structure of the timber that is used of extra strength to endure the weathering and the earthquakes that Japan is so frequently subjected too. While the structure is robust the internal materials are light weight using paper, bamboo, straw and timber.

d)Beauty

The elegance and grace of the house is aesthetically designed to bring a simplistic view of the house with little furniture which helps the mind to likewise be simple and functional in thinking and living.This helps to think straight and live straight disciplining the mind and the body.

The Japanese House Plans
As you enter into the house, the shoes are removed at the Genkan( Hall way) and slippers are worn .

 Architectural Insights
Economy and brief of material used is maintained and the use of light passing into spaces via translucent material is common.

The perfect proportions of squares are used relating to the tatami mats.

Haiku timber House
Haiku is a type of poetry, which means each poem contains seventeen syllables–frequently in the order of 5, 7, 5 syllables .The theme of haiku poetry is the relationship and interaction between nature and humankind.Haiku says that form and function are one. This philosophy was adopted by Frank Lloyd Wright. Haiku Houses have many of the features of their Bungalows.It is elegant and beautiful, priceless in its inherent peace, tranquility and harmony.

The Traditional Japanese House were in many way designed for Net Zero Energy Building, firstly  the house were made of timber which was a naturally abundant and the veranda  were thermal zones which kept the heat away during the summers the smart landscaping  kept the heat  away during summer and the homes were lifted above the ground to keep the heat away from the ground which air below the floor was a good form of insulation, the interiors were made of paper which was an excellent material which insulated the interiors form gaining heat nor losing heat during winters, with respect to Green sustainability the choice of timber could never get better.

Before leaving the site, please check out for our boutique designs for Japanese floor plans at : http://www.sda-architect.com/

And enjoy.

Thank you

Prepared by Net Zero Energy Building Architect Perumal Nagapushnam: http://www.sda-architect.com/

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The different Types of Architects and what they do?

21 Aug 2015
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The different Types of Architects and what they do?

key words: Project Architects,Resident Architects,Design Architects,Bungalow Architects,Shopping center specialist Architects,Interior designing,Hotels Architects Architects,Hospital Architects, Architect Arbitrator ,Commercial Office Architects,Architect Planners,Landscape Architects,Timber building Architects,Resident Architects. arkitek

There are many Types of Architects  listed below are some of them and what they do:
Many types of Architects are covered in these website such as Green Architect,Net Zero Energy Architect, Eco Green Architect.

Principal Architect

He is runs the Architectural company, he may be the founder, owner of the company

Project Architects

What does a Project Architects do?
The Project Architect  manages a team of Architectural office staff consisting of Resident Architects , Design Architects and a team of draftsman .He ensure the project is managed contractually ( contract administration. A Project Architect is  used for a large project  or he would be required to deal with many smaller projects.

He reports firstky to the Pricipal Architect of the comapny and he may report to the Owners of the building ( or a Project Management Team). He rports on the overall progress of works,manages changes that occurs which may arise from time to time ,manages the Program or any issues that may arrise at the site. He also manages a consultant teams of Civil & Structural Engineers, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, Urban Town Planner, the Cost consultants( called the QS), and Landscape Architect, Interior Designers, Specialist Consultants such as –Acoustic consultants, Lighting consultants, Façade consultants and Green Sustainability, Net Zero Energy Consultants and Ecologist. The contractor or the builder reports to him on the progress regularly

Design Architects

What does a Design Architects do?
A Design Architect designs the building, by complying with the client’s design brief and local building code and  bye law requirements. He report to the Project Architect or to the Pricipal Architect. 

He submits the plans to the local authorities for approval and coordinating the approvals of the engineer’s plans to the local authorities as well. The design architect during the construction will ensure the design aspects of the building are attained and reviews the approvals of materials submitted by the Contractor and ensure it is compliant with the specifications of the contract.

Bungalow Architects

What does a Bungalow Architects do?
An Architect that specializes in designing of Bungalows as the design and construction of Bungalow is a rather confine to a very specialized area of work. The difficulty of putting up a Bungalow cannot be underestimated. He  meets the needs of the owner of homes both at a macro level and at a micro level of details. Every nook and corner of the bungalow is subjected to review by the house owner . This Architect ought to be rather knowledgeable about the details of material, construction and aesthetics of the buildings. He should be familiar with the different types of house plans,history of house architecture, the types of houses, large homes and small homes, timber materials , log houses, cottage houses, beach houses, 2 bed room houses, 3 bed room houses, duplex houses, southern living homes, Asian homes and Green Homes, modern house plans, Open house floor plans, Japanese house floor plans etc, It is varied form place to place and region to region. He  designs homes according to the need of the owner and it meeting with the local market value systems to maintain value of the homes.

Shopping CenterSpecialist Architects

What does a Shopping center specialist Architects do?
The shopping specialist architect , deasl with large shopping centers, hyper markets and supermarket. It might seem like a simple thing , which is not true otherwise; in fact a mistake  undertaken in the design of a shopping centers, may result in a gargantuan tragedy. It may resulting in a white elephant or a ghost shopping center. Therefore in selecting an Architect to design a shopping center one should evaluate his background of experiences in shopping centers designs. The strategies to capture the flow of traffic, direct the flow,captivating their interest,lighting levels and the latest trends in shopping is rather important for the success of the shopping center and creating a thriving shopping center.
The Architect will study the types of shops and how it will be laid out to create demand and reduce dead ends of circulation of traffic and is aware of the magic of working public traffic using anchor tenants.

Interior designing Architects

What does, a Interior designing Architects do?
An architect who is specialized in the interiors of the building and creates and transforms the interior spaces to a functional space or a space of beauty. The interior design should begin at the outset of design process making the spaces as an integral part of the building and not as a make over of the design as an after thought. There is a difference between an Interior designer and a interior decorator. A Interior decorator merely provides the make up of the building .

Hospital Architects

What does, a Hospital Architects do?
A Hospital architect deals with an area of specialization  with the internal planning of hospitals. These are medical and health requirements, which shall be complied. All aspects of the spaces are designed with the health of the patients in mind .For instances the lifts are specially  much slower that the conventional lifts it takes into consideration of patients with weak heart or high blood pressure who are susceptible to heart attacks. The rooms are designed for clean room conditions and the air will be designed for clean air to minimize the spread of air borne diseases.Room are subjected to view for quick recover.Planning of the services are necessary for Energy efficiency as Hospitals guzzles energy.

Hotel Architects

What does a Hotels Architects do?
Hotel Architects are specialist in designing the bed rooms, the commercial kitchen, ballrooms, restaurants, lounges, connectivity of service corridors to service lifts, loading, unloading area and the maintenance areas. There are many types of hotels. Some hotels that are  centered around golfing circuits, some are based on beaches fronts, some on ball rooms and seminars services and others dependent on visitors from the Air port or local retail centers etc .Operators of Hotels, such as Hilton  have their own manuals for designing hotels in keeping with their brands.Architect  design according Hotels Operator’s  guidelines stipulated in Operator’s manuals. This will  ensure the operations are efficient and profitable. All 5-6 star hotels will be designed with the Operators requirements at the outset. This will avoid design tragedies and mega failures in Hotels. If you need to know if Design matters, look around at Hotels that have failed in business other than  that “location matters”.

Commercial Office Architects

What does a Commercial Office Architects do?
The design of high rise office towers shall be designed with low maintenance free designs, efficient layout floor plans, high energy performance building, shaded well from the heating sun and conservation of heat during summer and cautiously with the safety of the end users during maintenance of building, design for easy management of the building. New concepts such as Net Zero Energy Building, which is our area of special focus.  Green and Sustainability concepts are introduced by certification bodies such as Living Challenge, LEEDS, Green Building Index,Green Marks etc.

Architect Arbitrator

What does a Architect Arbitrator do?
An architect that is familiar with the contractual relationship between the parties in the building industry and how the function and further more he is most familiar with the designing and the design process and the work that all parties are bound in the industry. And this makes him as a suitable candidate to arbiter the arguments that arise among the parties in the industry. In some countries where there is no Construction court, many lawyers and even Judges are not familiar with the terms of the contract, duties of the parties of the contract and the relationship between them and make the proceeding and the judgments to be miscarried. Therefore it is best to have architects who are legal based who are the best arbiter to conduct and make the best judgment in arbitration case.

Architect Planners

What does a Architect Planners do?
An Architect who is trained academically as an Architect and  as an Urban Town Planner.An architect is aware of what is happening within a building . Town Planner designs a collection of buildings in a Town or country settings. An Urban Planner designs the interrelationships between the buildings. He interconnects the buildings with open spaces, parks and garden etc. Building are designed by architect without any consideration to the buildings in the neighborhoods. It is said that building have to talk to each other and the design of park in relationship with the footpaths leading to one another is necessary to create an wonderful urban environment. Urban Town Planning fills in  these gaps and is a go in between Planning and Architects in urban areas.

Landscape Architects

What do Landscape Architects do?
A landscape architect, at a micro level, is one who designs the soft landscape (plants, lawns, shrubs etc) and the landscape (pavements, benches, footpaths, street lights bollard etc) .
At a macro level he may be a designer as a Town Planner. He may also design the country sides and be involved as Town and Country Planner does in Town and Country Planning.

Timber Building Architects

What does a Timber building Architects do?
An architect who is familiar with the architecture of  timber, the different type of timbers ,how to preserve timber, the art and crafting and beauty of timber . He has an appreciation of the fine timber quality, how to design rustically in some situation ,making a beauty out of the ruggedness of the house.He is a master of timber homes.

Resident Architects

What does a Resident Architects do?
Resident Architects are those who oversea the quality of materials used and overseas the workmanship,during the construction of the building. He will ensure where  standing supervision is required especially where concrete works are carried out.He is partly responsible for the works carried out by the contractor. He ensures the contractor uses materials , specified by the designer (Architects), He is engaged only during the construct of the works until the building is successfully handed over to the Owner of the building. The Owners of the building, may extend his engagement as A Residential Architect until the Building is certified fit for occupation (in some regions this is called the Certificate of Fitness in others it is called Certificate of Completion and Compliance.)
a) He should be able to study all drawings such as Architectural and Engineering . He identifies errors in drawings and missing details .He checks and conduct test on the material that is used by the contractor.There are times although the approved samples submitted are never used on the building during the construction by the contractor. The materials are short changed during the construction . This leaving the building with a massive maintenance problem ,during the life span of the building.
b) He may send the materials to the laboratory for testing to ensure compliance with the specifications.
c) He submits progress report to the building owner and the Principal Architect of the project. He reports the works is in progress and the no of workers at the site. He also report  the equipment used at the site.He reporst the weather conditions at the site.
d) He monitors the Health and Safety Manuals and enforces it at the site such as ensure the use of  Hard Hats, Safety boots, Safe erection of scaffolding , Safety cables, safety nets , safety platforms are in place, ensure no water-ponds are found at site to minimize the breeding of mosquitoes, healthy the living quarters for workers, the Electricity cables are elevated above the ground with proper switch outlets etc.
e) The Resident Architect endorses the correctness of the Contractor’s Progress report.

Prepared by Architect Perumal Nagapushnam, contact us

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How to treat for termite in house plans

20 Aug 2015
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How to treat for termite in house plans

Hello there this article will be discussing is about how to treat for termite , which is one of the important aspects in construction. Termites are small, pale soft-bodied insects that lives in large colonies with several different castes, typically within a mound of cemented earth. Many kinds feed on wood and can be highly destructive to trees and timber While each termite species thrives in different climates and eats different types of food, all termites require four things to survive: food, moisture, shelter and optimal temperature. Unfortunately, all homes, regardless of their construction type, can provide these ideal conditions for termite infestation.

Before Construction
Treating termite before construction can help you defend against possible claims in the future. Where construction specification for several projects requires the protection for termite in their finishing’s. To help you in dealing with this problem this article will provide you with some tips that you must incorporate in your construction activities. Food and moisture resources around and inside home should be eliminated because termites are attracted towards moisture.

Where Are The Termites?
Termites are frequently living where there is a high concentration of moisture and dampness. In old houses these are frequent problems because they tend to live in obstructed or block water supply and sewerage pipes. Also there is evidence that inside wood products or decaying wood surfaces are high probability areas for a termite to live in where they end up actually eating wood and wooden products inside your house.

Pre Construction Chemical Treatment
Termite treatment in pre construction stages includes few steps that must be done to ensure an area of termite-free construction.

Treating the soil before any slab placement with insecticides is the most common method of termite treatment. This will form a chemical barrier between ground slab and masonry that will prevent the insects to approach the building. The chemical treatment can be done as follow:

  • Before making the foundation the bottom and sides of excavation must be treated with chemical products.
  • make holes in the earth where slabs on grade will be built and fill them with chemical products.
  • Be sure to use chemicals where walls and floors intersect.
  • Treat the perimeter of the construction by making holes filled with chemicals all around the structure.
  • In pipe bedding fill an area with chemical products to secure the future of the piping.
  • Use specific anti-termite chemical to treat the portion of the buildings were wooden products such as cabinets, doors, among others, will be placed.

Post-construction termite treatment
We can’t be acting in the pre construction chemical treatment all the time. Sometime termites are found after construction, so what can we do?

Start with an assessment of the entire area before starting any kind of treatment. A deep investigation will determine the extent of the damage, if any damage is found then determine the location of the termite, the access points to the structure and their spread in the area. The following tips should be kept in mind during chemical treatment.

  • As in the pre construction process, make holes and filled them with chemicals, to create a barrier around the house.
  • Treat the floors and walls by drilling holes and filling them with chemicals. All walls or the vast majority of the walls have to be treated to ensure that no more spreading will continue.
  • Apply chemicals on all points of contacts of wood with the ground or with any part of the building.
  • The voids in masonry can be used with anti-termite treatment.
  • Change and replace wood products or furniture that have high impact and presence of termites, beyond any limit of reparation.

Precautionary measures
when you treat for termite perform these simple steps to ensure that your area kept free from these pest .

  1. Keep drains and gutters clean to avoid leakage.Make sure that there are no blockage, filtration nor broken pipes with excess of moisture around them.
  1. Eliminate sources of moisture.Do not leave unattended areas where there is a high concentration level of humidity. Clean those areas constantly to assure that it wont face the same problem again.
  1. Destroy termites.Apply chemicals as soon as you detect areas where termites are being reunited to avoid the spreading of it.
  1. Remove Wood Products.Remove wood products that have had the presence of moisture or have been in contact with water for a long period of time.
  1. Eliminate the wood contact with the ground.Do not bury direct pieces of wood in the ground for any use to avoid the moisture from getting in it.
  1. Fill junctions or voids.If you notice some voids of open space between the building and the ground, act quickly and fill those areas to avoid termites getting in the house.

The Chemicals Used for the Treatment:
There are currently several general kinds of termite chemicals registered for soil treatment. All termite chemicals are effective for their intended purpose but the choice often boils down to toxicity and odour versus longevity and resistance to leaching.
The water based termite chemicals do not contain solvents and are odorless. Some of the water based termite chemicals include Premis, Biflex Aqua and Termadore. The Premis is a chloro-nicotinyl type termite chemical and has a toxicity rating of S5. Premis termite chemical remains effective for at least two years.
The Biflex Aqua is a synthetic pyrethroid water based termite chemical with a toxicity rating of S6. Where its recommended to do a re-treatment of termite treatment with Biflex Aqua after five years for maximum effectiveness. The Biflex Aqua gets blinded very quickly and strongly to the soil particles and provides a best option where moisture movement in the soil is a factor.

Contact our Architects  at the website for further advise.

Prepared by: http://www.sda-architect.com/

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