Spatial composition and building techniques of farmhouses prone to windstorms:a case study in Arakawa Village, Shiga Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

In Arakawa Village, the strong Hira downslope windstorm blowing from the Hira Mountains toward Lake Biwa, poses a great challenge for timber housing structures, which are prone to deformation. To understand the countermeasures applied in local farmhouses to mitigate the effect of wind attacks, features of historical housing and land lot layouts from the Meiji Era (1868-1912) were studied and interviews with local villagers and craftsmen were conducted. It was found that a significant majority of houses were built along the wind direction, with a closed front facade. Contrariwise, subsidiary structures, such as storage buildings and retirement houses, were placed perpendicularly to the wind direction, forming wind fences to protect the front yards, which served as agricultural workspaces. The features of spatial composition have been explained by local craftsmen as technical countermeasures; according to them, farmhouses were built on an incline of about 3-5 cm into the wind direction to mitigate deformation of timber structure. The study suggests that spatial composition of vernacular farmhouses and building techniques could offer effective strategies for sustainable rural planning and be employed to enhance the wind resistance of modern timber constructions, especially for regions prone to powerful prevailing winds worldwide.