This book deals with the science of ama-jimai. “Ａma-jimai”, a Japanese word which literally means “putting rainwater in order”, is a traditional terminology in architecture used for the concept of excluding rain from buildings not totally relying on waterproofing techniques. The basic idea is to deflecting rainwater from the surface of the building as much as possible, and control the flow of rainwater on the surface and within the building fabric so as not to migrate towards adverse direction and quickly drain it away.
In this book, whole of the subjects on ama-jimai, ranging from the nature of rain itself to practical techniques for controlling rainwater within the building fabric, which are closely relating each other, are systematically described and scientifically explained. From this book, readers will be able to have clear and precise understanding of the followings.
•Importance of rainwater control for the weathertightness of buildings,
•Influence of rain and wind on building façade,
•Rainwater movement over the surface, within the material, and through the gaps of building fabric,
•Practical method of excluding rain in buildings utilizing various rainwater controlling features.
Furthermore, this book contains many quantitative information on the movement of rainwater, based on the author’s many years research works. These include analysis of meteorological data, calculation methods and results of wind-driven rain impingement over the building façade, rate of flow and penetration of rainwater in various positions of the building envelope, and experimental data on the behavior of rainwater at various rainwater controlling features over and within the building fabric.
Hirozo Ishikawa was born in 1942 in Tokyo. He studied at the Department of Architecture of Waseda University. After finishing the graduate course there, he joined Tokai University, Hiratsuka, Japan, to teach building materials and construction at the Department of Architecture and Building Engineering. Throughout his career as a graduate student and a teacher, he had consistently done research in the field of ama-jimai (rainwater control in buildings), and published many research papers on the subject. He acquired the degree of Dr. Eng. in 1977, and received a distinguished-research-paper-award of Architectural Institute of Japan in 2007. Beside teaching, he actively participated in research programs for improving weathertightness and durability of building envelope at various institutions including Architectural Institute of Japan.
He retired from teaching in 2007, and now a Professor Emeritus at Tokai University. After the retirement, he worked as a member of civil arbitration committee specialized in dispute of building defects and contributed his knowledge to the dispute resolution of cases that include rain penetration problems. He also cooperated with various organizations doing researches on materials and construction of timber-framed residential buildings. From 2011 to 2015, he chaired the joint research committee for investigating construction and performance evaluation method of external envelope of timber-framed-houses for improving the durability of buildings at National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management of Japan.
He had written two books on rainwater control in buildings in Japanese, both published from Shokokusha in 2004 and 2018.
