The purpose of studying vernacular Japanese architecture is to understand to what extent a house withlarge opening surfaces, no thermal insulation and very low environmental impact can become avaluable shelter during cold winters and hot humid summers. The reason of this result is to be found inthe strict relationship between the socio-cultural context and the environmental characteristics of thebuilding. The occupants behavior, the way of dressing, relaxing, living inside the house is acomplement of the thermal, daylight and solar performances of the envelope.
The buildings sector offers the greatest potential for cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gasemissions out of all the sectors examined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.However that potential was based purely on technical measures applied to existing buildings and newconstruction. It is becoming increasingly clear that non-technical options involving building occupantcomfort, culture and behaviour will also need to be implemented in order to stabilise atmosphericconcentrations of CO2 within a useful timeframe.
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