COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN FRAMING SYSTEMS AND SPATIAL COMPOSITION IN JAPANESE VERNACULAR TOWN HOUSES (MACHIYA) (PART 1) : SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MACHIYA FOCUSING ON CORRELATION BETWEEN FRAME AND FIXTURE IN SECTIONS OF THE SIDE OF ROOMS

This paper aims to clarify spatial characteristics of Japanese town houses (machiya) by using the extent of openness of interior space typologically. Classifying the extent of framing openness by posts and horizontal members and fixture openness by fittings and partition walls, various section types of the side of rooms are defined in case of 11 premodern machiya in Kinki district, eastern and western Japan. It is revealed that most values of fixture openness tend to be equal to or exceed that of framing openness in Kinki and western Japan, while various corresponding values of openness coexist in eastern Japan.