研究・産学官民連携 Research

KININAL Materials - Rediscovery New Possibilities for Building Materials

Research Projects and Initiatives

Recent Studies at Faculty of Design

KININAL Materials - Rediscovery New Possibilities for Building Materials

Department of Environmental Design, Faculty of Design
TSUCHIYA Jun, Lecturer

Building Finishing Materials Close to Our Daily Lives

There are two main types of building materials that make up a building: structural materials and finishing materials. Of these building materials, “finishing materials” are the ones we are most familiar with.

The Tsuchiya Laboratory, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, conducts research on the color, texture, composition, and aging of familiar finishing materials in order to make living spaces more comfortable and to make the most of local materials in our daily lives. In this issue, we will introduce our work on street furniture made from urban trees, a material that is widely used in addition to architecture.

Environmental Design Proposal Utilizing the Hakozaki Campus Legacy

Tsuchiya Laboratory, in collaboration with the Mishima Laboratory of the Kyushu University Museum, planned to utilize wood sawmilled from Himalayan cedar logs that will be logged in 2023 at the former site of the Kyushu University Hakozaki Campus. This Himalayan cedar is one of the legacies of the Hakozaki Campus that has watched over the people of Kyushu University.

The bench was made to evaluate the practicality and versatility of street furniture made of lumber from urban trees that have not been planted for building and product materials, and strength tests of the wood were conducted in collaboration with the Yoshioka Laboratory. The benches were designed, produced, and constructed by students in the laboratory, and the changes in surface color, moisture content, texture, and feel are being observed and measured over time after installation on the Ohashi campus in June 2024. This initiative is also intended to help address urban issues that have emerged in recent years, such as the management and felling of street and park trees and other urban trees as they age, as well as the maintenance of buildings and products made from wood materials for outdoor use.

Fig.1 Sawmilling of Himalayan cedar log

Fig.2 Students of the environmental design course observing the strength test of the horizontal timber sawmilled from the log

Fig.3 Painted top board (seat of the bench)

Fig.4 Assembly work

Fig.5 Group photo with lab members after the completion of the bench

■Contact
Department of Environmental Design, Faculty of Design
TSUCHIYA Jun, Lecturer