A STUDY OF THE TIMBER FRAME CONCRETE BLOCK CONSTRUCTION AND ITS FORMATIVE PROCESS

This paper treats a timber frame concrete block construction and its formative process through a case study of Ijokaku and Toa Cement Company. Wu Jintang who was the founder of Ijokaku and the proprietor of Toa Cement Company introduced Tensho Taoka's concrete block processing technology into his Company in 1908. They constructed 'Shokai-Bessou' that was the building of the Timber Frame Concrete Block Construction by using its own concrete blocks as an alternative material of the brick or stone by the earliest in our country. The direction of the block development of Toa Cement Company and Taoka did not achieve of low-cost by mass production, and not develop the reinforced concrete block, but advanced to the pursuit of the additional value of the design etc. as materials of the masonry construction. Therefore it was not possible that their projects succeeded. As a result, Ijokaku that was the model house was a really unique approaches in a short period between masonry construction Era and reinforced concrete construction Era in the history of Japanese Architecture.