Rhythm of natural phenomenon is equal to rhythm of life phenomenon. Both have a circadian rhythm with a fluctuation characteristic of 1 / f [Pα f ⁿ (n = -1)]. In other words, life genes on the earth are all oriented toward circadian rhythm and 1 / f fluctuation..
Tropical rainforest is the environment that most realizes this state on the earth. Human genes are programmed to fit in this environment. That is, human genes are evolving to fit the tropical rainforest environment. Normaly it seems to be difficult to describe what the concrete image of "natural" or "life" in general is. But if you can say nature is tropical rainforest itself or to say life is toropical rainforest itself, it should be easy to describe what nature is. So we can say that "nature" or “life” is "tropical rain forest"itself. Life is the system in which the rainforest is embodied. We can paraphraised this way.
Our evolved brains have the property of reasonably devising ideas, So we create a city and artificially develop ourselves around us. At that time, the naturality (circadian rhythm and 1 / f) is eliminated. . This is different from the programmed direction of genes. Here is the reason why modern people appeal many disorders physically and mentally.
The interior environment cut from nature is architecture. Therefore, it is inevitable to artificulate the interior. Therefore, a person created art to erase unpleasant artifacts. Excellent art has common 1 / f fluctuation. I know that there are many 1 / f fluctuations in Mozart's music and Toru Takemitsu's music too. If an object with 1 / f fluctuation occupies space, it can naturalize (1 / f) the place. Originally, there are two ways to bring artificial objects closer to nature and coexist. One is to cut out nature itself and add it like a flower arrangement, or bring out excellent art to the place.
To naturalize the inside of the building, you can create 1 / f fluctuation with excellent art and outstanding skills. So what is the difference between natural plants and art? It can be explained by the magnitude of the value of f. The fact that the value of f is large means that the energy is large. The work produced by a great artist has 1 / f fluctuation and its energy is great.
Originally people are programmed to live in harmony with nature, so our modern technology must also be applied in a direction to make symbiosis of nature . Nature's energy is so powerful that people can not continue symbiotic relationship unless we use great power. The energy that is used for this is the work that human beings should originally do. The present labor is based on petroleum resources expanding disorderly out of circadian rhythm. If artificiality advances continue in this direction, it will self-disassociate from gene programs.
When considering a forest symbiotic housing, if you live in a forest of a tropical rainforest which is an environment adapted to human genes, it will be the best form of forest symbiosis by itself. However, we can not do it because we live in the city. So we must create forest environmental information in urban dwelling. The environmental information of the forest to be created indoors is light, which is sound, scent and skin sensation.
① Basically the fragrance is what the material produces. So we need wood from naturally arid region that keeps life function.
② Skin sensation is a thermal environment adjusted so as not to disturb the synchronization of environmental rhythm and internal rhythm.
③ The rhythm of natural light is no longer left in the sky in the city. Even in small spaces, you must assure the green of the trees in the garden and distribute that light to the interior to introduce the green light as an indispensable light. The introduction of morning blue light is also important.
④ As for the sound environment, problems are only considered to prevent sounds in urban areas. But be sure to remember that the rich and often noisy sound of the rainforest is a magical sound that calms the person and leads to deep sleep.
Urban-type forest symbiotic housing －applying EBM of green power－
Do you know the word EBM? It means "Evidence Based Medicine " in English. For example, even in a mood or sensation with individual differences, credibility is increased if medical backgrounds are given to it. Everyone understand that something naturally-derived makes us feel good. But we can be more confident as medical evidence adds to it. In the near future, forest medicine attracts the attention of many people using this EBM.
Forest bathing or forest therapy ® is attracting attention not only in Japan but also globally. This word is still new and it was named by Akiyama Tomohide of the Director General of the Forestry Agency in 1982. In English it translates into forest bathing, but even in foreign countries it is often called shinin-yoku. For European and American people, the fact that there is the power to make people healthy in the forest seems to be considerably interesting.
Human beings are said to have been born in a rainforest in central Africa, but then evolved nearly 7 million years in the forest. Our modern people have made artificial society like this for at most 200 years since the Industrial Revolution. Therefore, human genes still have elements adapting to the forest environment (natural environment). On the other hand, modern people live in an urban environment that is far from the forest environment. That is why we are always under stress. Tend to focus only on social stress, but stress from the environment that is always exposed is the worst. These stresses are linked to many modern diseases.
From the stressful contemporary artificial environment, just by moving to the forest environment where the original gene is adapted, the human body is released from stress, the immune power rises and the autonomic nervous system It is known that blood pressure etc will also be normalized. About such physiological data and EBM, Japanese researchers belonging to the International Society of INFOM (International society of Nature and Forest Medicine) has been spread all over the world. In the future, if EBM is added that senile disorders such as dementia and mental disorders such as depression and even anti-aging are effective, forest medicine will be effective for prevention of diseases and health maintenance of modern people, Which will lead to a reduction in the number of national health expenses.
The first theme in my architectural design is to copy the forest environment and then incorporate these factors into inside the building. If the environment best suited to human genes is forests, I think that it is the cutting-edge science of architectural planning to analyze the composition of light, sound, smell components, tactile fluctuations, and the composition of tactile fluctuations. EBM of forest medicine gives humans a good opportunity to reconsider the meaning of the internal and external environments, although architecture is an artifact, it is a fate to conflict with nature. Forest medicine gives us a good oppotunity to rethink the meaning of the environment for human.Is it right to put yourself in architecture in the first place.We need to doubt it.
Toshiya Ochiai / Architect
First class architect／Representative Director:Forest Baubiology Studio Inc. INFOM(International society of Nature and Forest Medicine) Director, General Manager ／Kogure- Club Director etc.
Born in Tokyo in 1959 Graduated from Department of Architecture, Waseda University Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University Completed the course of construction engineering He studied under Tomoo Sugisaka and has been involved in wooden building design for many years. After developing the urban environment symbiosis housing, it is now necessary to copy the power of the forest environment into the building. "Symbiosis Forest Residence" is proposed as a theme.
Winner: Sustainable Housing Prize Best Prize, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Award Ministry of Construction and Environment Energy housing prize etc. Work: Japanese House New Standard (New House Publishing) Recommendation of urban environmental symbiosis housing (environmental symbiosis housing newspaper company) Sugisaka Construction Office 60 years (Building thinking research company) Architectural magazine "Residential Building" Forest, Human and Architecture (in series)
Chiba Tree Utilization Study Group Planning Interview
I think "nature" as a child rearing environment "Child-rearing and nature" "Forest therapy and environmental education" Mr. Toshiya Ochiai (Architect / Forest · Environmental Building Research Institute)
Part One
● What is the effect of forest environment on people? Ochiai: My specialty is the design of architecture. My early architectural theme was traditional architecture. It can be said that it is a research to make architecture using the artisan's handicraft technology. Next, the research shifted to a method of incorporating natural energy to build architecture. At that time the idea of coexistence of nature and symbiosis of the environment was born. The question that occurred at that time was that what the nature was. When coexisting in the environment, I do not know what the environment is like. Somehow I can understand it in the image, but actually trying to incorporate nature, I do not know vaguely what I can specifically take in. However, later it became easier to assume that the specific form of nature is a forest environment.
Ochiai: It is difficult to answer the question of what is the identity of the forest environment. As a result of thinking with various trial and error, the conclusion that we met was the academic term "forest medicine". Where the human being was originally born was a forest environment. It is said that the place of origin of humanity is ITURIForest in central Africa. Human beings born there evolved genes in the forest for several million years. So, forest environment is the essential environment for people, that is exactly the concrete figure of the natural environment. So I began researching the medical effect on people in the forest. Then it became quite easy to understand the target. By replacing the vague thing called nature with the concrete thing called forest, the identity of nature becomes easy to understand. The definition of nature for people is a forest environment itself.
