Steel Beam Archaeology dating vernacular structures in British colonial era

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H02331
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 23040:Architectural history and design-related
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Inoue Tomo 九州大学, 芸術工学研究院, 准教授 (70380714)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 土屋 潤 九州大学, 芸術工学研究院, 講師 (40448410) ; 谷 正和 九州大学, 芸術工学研究院, 教授 (60281549) ; 土居 義岳 九州大学, 芸術工学研究院, 教授 (00227696)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: バナキュラー建築 / 鉄骨 / 編年 / I形鋼 / 英領

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Steel Beam Archaeology has been developed to determine the construction years of vernacular buildings such as housings and shops in the British period (late 19th to early 20th century) in former British colonies in Asia by the production years of I-beams. The dating method by changes of the rolling marks of I-beams, the dating method by changes of the cross-section of I-beams in product catalogues and the dating method by changes in production periods of I-beams. The combination of these three methods has been found to allow the year of manufacture of I-beams to be identified and the year of construction of buildings to be estimated. The methods based on changes in the compositional elements of the I-beams and on changes in the steel construction method and distribution had many problems and did not lead to the identification of the year of manufacture.

Free Research Field

建築学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の学術的意義や社会的意義は、植民地時代の住宅や店舗などのバナキュラー建築を彼らの建築史や文化史の遡上に載せることにある。バナキュラー建築のような独自の文化を自分たちで正当に評価できるようになるには社会が経済的に発展する必要があるが、それらは経済発展の過程で失われやすいので、海外からの支援として建築史・文化史上の価値付けがおこなわれることによって当該社会の文化に対する再評価ともなり、新たな文化遺産の創造、自国の文化に対する誇りの醸成にもつながり、その文化的、社会的効果は計り知れない。