Director's Greeting

I’m Haru Yamaguchi, the 17th Director of the Osawa Memorial Institute of Architectural Environmental Engineering. I succeeded the former Director, Professor Tomoyuki Endo, in 2024. I will make every effort to contribute to this institute’s further development.

Our institute was established in 1968 as an architectural environmental engineering research institute attached to Kanto Gakuin University. This visionary initiative was under the advocacy of Professor Emeritus Ichiro Osawa, a revered educator and pioneer in this field in Japan after World War Ⅱ. The purpose of its establishment was to promote close collaboration between education and research activities and to meet the demand for versatility and multifaceted advancement of architectural environmental engineering in the coming era. 

In 2005, this research facility was renovated and revitalized with various technologies introduced as an experimental facility for research on environmental symbiosis technologies and as a frontier for comprehensive sustainable architecture and ecological symbiosis technologies. These technologies were verified and succeeded in the Building of Architecture and Environmental Design (Building No. 5), which is adjacent to this research institute.

The research fellows at this institute are also faculty members of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, making the education and research closely linked in undergraduate courses and graduate school. Students gain valuable experience linking theory and practice by actively participating in research activities and working on real-world problem-solving. As researchers, we contribute to acquiring specialized knowledge and developing human resources that can play an active role in society as the institute’s mission.

More than half a century has passed since the institute was founded. Despite global warming prevention efforts around the world, temperatures continue to rise. According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' statement in July 2023, "The Era of Global Boiling" has begun. In the face of these daunting challenges, our institute stands ready, equipped with knowledge, expertise, and a strong sense of purpose, to make a significant contribution.

 In October 2020, Japan declared its commitment to “achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” i.e., a carbon-neutral, decarbonized society by 2050. The trend toward ZEH and ZEB is accelerating, as evidenced by plans to make compliance with energy conservation standards mandatory for residential architecture in April 2025. At the same time, measures for existing buildings are also becoming more critical.

However, people describe carbon neutrality in 2050 as “achieving ambitious targets.” In the architecture-related sectors, the sector-specific CO2 reduction targets are a 51% reduction in the commercial sector and a 66% reduction in the residential sector compared to figures in 2013. To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the development of the fields of building environmental engineering and building equipment will play an important role.

To date, the institute has engaged in research on sustainable building technologies, such as improving the efficiency of building equipment, verifying the performance of environmentally symbiotic technologies, effective use of water resources, energy reduction, and building maintenance and management. 

We will continue to contribute to society by setting specific research themes and working to solve problems.

We look forward to your continued support, which is invaluable to us and greatly appreciated. Together, we can make a significant difference in the field of sustainable architectural technologies.