Abstract:
Single-family wooden dwellings have formed the mainstream of housing in Japan because of climatic conditions. However, multifamily housing began a rapid and widespread expansion beginning in the mid-1960s as one mode of housing and currently accounts for a proportion exceeding conventional single-family dwellings, especially in major urban centers. In order to gain an understanding of the current conditions of environment performance of multifamily housing, an extensive questionnaire survey was conducted targeting the residents of 16 housing estates, all of recent construction and considered to have multifamily housing architectural properties standard in Japan at the present time. To summarize the results, there was an overall indication of a high evaluation of satisfaction with current housing. Meanwhile, regarding the desire for improvements or rebuilding within current housing, there is a greater demand for ``dampness proofing'' and ``sound insulation.'' In addition, the percentage of dwellers who felt dissatisfied with the sound environment as an actual sensation in their everyday lives accounted for approximately 30% in each of the public housing complexes. Overall, ``noise in the surrounding environment is terrible'' and ``sound from the floor above is extremely loud'' were given as the primary reasons for this.