jailcd2016047: Comparative Survey on the Attitudes towards Timber Frame Houses andTimber as a Construction Material between China and Japan

Abstract

Timber, as a renewable resource, are widely used as construction material all over the world. In Japan, timber frame houses take 45% market share, but it just takes less than 2% in China. Although a certain revival of timber frame houses has occurred, especially in some big cities, the market share is still low. The present study aimed at better understanding the Chinese and Japanese attitudes towards timber frame houses, to check are there some difference between the consumers in these two countries.  The qualitative research was adopted and questionnaire method was chosen to explore consumers’ views. Five hypotheses are made by the author. Questions showed in the questionnaire are mainly same in these two countries, but some parts of them are modified according to different culture background. This paper presents selected findings from a consumer survey in both China and Japan, which exploring the image of timber as a construction material and the image of timber frame houses. For the limited time and fund support, the questionnaires were distributed in China by a Chinese website Jin Shu Ju, and in Japan, mainly by face to face interview. There are 587 respondents were collected in China, and 136 respondents in Japan. All of these findings hope to give the reference for the future study of timber frame house in both China and Japan.