Course in Environmental Design

The course in environmental design is divided into four fields: architectural design, landscape design, architectural planning, and community planning. These fields are closely interrelated. Therefore, faculty works together closely to accomplish the aim of providing a comprehensive education.

Research Filed Specialty Research Contents
Design Community/architectural design With the concept of architecture that makes the town, an ability to design/plan architecture, landscape, and landscape of the town will be developed. As a part of town development, the evolving process of amenity and community will be reviewed and practical self-reliant ability will be developed.
For self-reliant development, design which aims at coexistence between humans and nature, and the way community consensus building should be ,will be research topics.
Urban architectural design Considering architecture, park, community, and city as a part of whole environment, a loose mixture of macro viewpoint and viewpoint of daily life will be sought. Specifically, a proposal for utilizing recycled materials, the applicability of wooden architecture, and the proposal that includes rehabilitation and restoration of existing architecture as an option will be studied with their methodologies through actual practice. Environmental architecture will also be planned, designed and comprehensively studied from various perspectives.
Architectural structure design By analyzing the characteristics of materials and methods to create space utilizing materials, the way architecture should be from the viewpoint of creating space will be studied. The potential for architectural space and newly emerging environmental issues will be reviewed, and the role of technology for establishing sustainable society will be studied.
Landscape design By seeking potential inside the site and area, landscape design methods to create new space will be studied. Background philosophy, space theory, technology, and correlations with various arts will be studied for space, such as historic gardens and modern open spaces in this country and abroad. Furthermore, open space will be researched from the viewpoint of capacity of various activities, and space forms that diversely link with humans will be explored.
History/Theory Environmental design theory/architectural history of Asian cities A way to understand and analyze built environment will be explored, and methodologies of environmental design will be outlined based on the field of space design, design and planning (architecture, city planning) of architecture, city, and regional space. Built environment of all ages and countries will be studied and its evolving processes and principles will be discussed. In particular, the history of urban architecture in Asian regions and its methodologies will be investigated.
Architectural space design/theory Through the actual practice of architectural design, on which basis, how, and what kinds of design and function are demanded in the natural or social environment will be reviewed, and will be related to architectural space design. Through the actual practice of town development, what is demanded from town by a new sensitivity to new age will be reviewed. Useful activities for local government and private organizations will also be implemented.
Architectural history Historical transition of space structure and architectural style and techniques for temples, shrines, and housing in Japan from ancient to modern times and the surrounding city and natural environment will be studied. Meanings will be framed within the context of social, religious, and cultural backgrounds.
Architectural space/designing Architectural space theory: architectural space will be studied through both the theory of perception (image creation) and theory of execution (image description). History of design concept: history and theory of architectural and urban design will be reviewed through the study of architect and architecture. Theory of landscape: landscape which is a unique environmental image of time and locality will be understood as the representation of images of life, and methodologies of landscape design will be explored. These are the research topics in the field for this lecture.
Planning Disaster mitigation Experimental/theoretical research for the improvement of earthquake resistance of wooden and reinforced concrete buildings, the development and research on earthquake resistance testing and reinforcing methods, and the projection of earthquake damage in city and community and research on preventive measures will be conducted. Specifically, earthquake observation in Shiga Prefecture, geotechnical investigation and microtremor measurement of the Hikone city area, and research on city population dynamics will be implemented. Based on this study, disaster reduction measures for potentially huge disasters in the area will be the research topics.
Landscape planning The methodologies of conservation, rehabilitation and creation for the landscape of city and community will be the research topics. For landscape administration, such as landscape ordinance and general landscape planning, and landscape survey, evaluation and simulation methods for architecture in towns, parks, squares, rivers and the countryside, all components of landscape, will be studied. Practical research and education on landscape planning methods for specific projects in urban renewal and town development will also be presented.
Regional space planning With the concept of sustainable regional formation, research will focus on the conditions of regional space, activities for regional formation, and regional cooperation for city, village and expanses beyond. Changes of urban district and planning methods of local cities, regional landscape formation and citizen-led styles, regional resources and town development, and the way environmentally symbiotic urban planning should be, will be the theme of the lecture. International cases in Germany will be studied, and discussion will be held about cases. A focus on case studies makes this lecture unique.
Living space/architectural planning A series of urban organization and architectural space components such as city, neighboring area, street, infrastructure, architecture, and room composition, which consists of living space, will be the research subject. Understanding that they are connected sequentially by space and time, how living space and architectural space are composed, mainly in housing, and their planning methodology will be studied.
Engineering Architectural structure In order to a build lasting structural system, educational research will be provided to learn advanced technology to safely convey various external forces such as gravity, seismic force and wind pressure to the ground. The development of performance-based design method for conventional type wooden house construction, the structure of reinforced concrete construction, the seismic isolation of structure, and study of earthquake resistance methods will be reviewed. By clarifying the dynamics of ground motion of the site, the safety of buildings from earthquakes will also be studied.
Dwelling environmental engineering From an energy saving perspective, resource conservation, environmental symbiosis, and physical environmental components, such as light, sound, energy, water and air that affect dwelling space, will be studied. The development of heat insulation performance test methods for windows and doors and other areas, the analysis of various passive methods, relations between life styles that aim at the reduction of negative environmental impact, and architectural, equipment and facility planning, and relations between lifeline and building equipment and facility will also be studied.