Hisao Nakaza was one of a handful of architects who contributed to building activities in Okinawa before, during, and after the Second World War. He engaged in the post-war recovery construction in ...the forefront immediately after the war, and later served as the first president of the Okinawa Society of Architects & Building Engineers (O.S.A.B.E.). Nakaza was a pioneer who represented Okinawan architectural society in the early post-war period. This study defines the period before 1960 as the dawn of concrete house popularization in Okinawa and aims to clarify the aspects of the development of architecture in Okinawa during this period, examining the architectural activity of Hisao Nakaza, who played a leading role in laying the foundation for the spread of concrete buildings. Results obtained from each section are as follows: 1) Nakaza was engaged in the public construction work in Okinawa before the war. That experience correlated to his active involvement of public work of American Army immediately after the war and he obtained advanced technologies. He employed masonry construction methods, utilizing local materials from 1950 to 1953 when material procurement and factory equipment were incomplete for the Reinforced-Concrete (RC) building. After 1954, he made the most of the properties of RC building, which made free form possible and also designs were changed. He was also devoted to designing activities and writing activities for magazines and newspapers and enlightened people on the dissemination of non-wooden buildings. 2) During his tenure as the President of the O.S.A.B.E., Nakaza organized discussion meetings of engineers and competitions of farm house design. Discussion meetings promoted the common consciousness of the dissemination of concrete housing among the engineers. Competitions nurtured young architects and at the same time offered the opportunities to make people known a new image of farmers' housing. Furthermore, interactions between Japanese and American engineers staying in Okinawa through meeting led to the publication of booklets about rural houses. In addition, requirements for concrete housing suitable for the land and climate were presented. Furthermore, financing facilities and tax system revisions for the establishment of concrete buildings were requested to government. 3) In the development of housing design, starting from 1949, masonry construction was performed for two years. After stone building and brick building were examined, non-wooden building was fulfilled. Concrete block (CB) building was introduced to build plumbing water parts of wooden houses around 1955, which improves durability, sanitation and handiness. CB building was frequently employed between 1952 and the beginning of 1955, which were designed by taking into consideration the climate features of the region from the beginning of the first introduction. The farmer house model of CB building was opened to the public and earned a great response. Finally, RC building entered the mainstream in 1956. At the same time, screen blocks were created and frequently utilized. The shape of screen blocks was contrived where both usability and exquisite design were found for the subtropical climate of Okinawa. As stated above, Hisao Nakaza was dedicated to the activities of the dissemination of concrete housing in diversified fields such as technical aspect (design), publicity (writing to enlighten people) finance (request for the support of financial policies) and education (cultivate architect at O.S.A.B.E). This study examined the process of Okinawan architecture after the war and revealed that the history of modernization was based on not only the unilateral receiving of advanced technology under military occupation but also the initiative struggle of the local architect, Nakaza, with roots in the region of Okinawa.
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