Think Winter: Architectural Design in a Cold Climate

In 1956, an all-Japanese construction development program was launched on Hokkaido Island with a main goal not only to solve the housing problem, but also to improve the thermal situation in buildings taking into account the peculiarities of the local climate with short summers and long snowy winters. The fight against the cold is still ongoing. Residential buildings with high thermal insulation and airtightness began to be extensively built on Hokkaido as late as at the turn of the Millennium. And the use of external insulation in office buildings that meets the requirements for energy cost reduction is even a matter of recent years. The purpose of this article is to acquaint readers with the design and construction of buildings in this area taking into account the climatic features of Hokkaido.

HOKKAIDO NATURE PECULIARITIES

Hokkaido Island is located in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Its climate, environmental and weather conditions are very heterogeneous due to currents, monsoons, terrain, etc. They are the factors that form differences in the way people live. The administrative center of Hokkaido Prefecture is located in a “transition zone” between territories with dissimilar characteristics. It is the city of Sapporo called the “gate of cold” since the northern climate area starts here.

The nature of construction is determined by the features of both the terrain and lifestyle. Therefore, construction design stretching back to the historical period of the territory development was formed in accordance with changes in the nature and life of people. As a result, according to climatic characteristics, the island is divided into six regions.

 Materials provided by Nikken Sekkei

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