5.19.Japan-4-detail-c Canvas Print

Japan 4: Detail (c) Highlights Relevant to Sustainable Design:

Rethink the lifetime total cost of ownership of building envelopes starting with the roof.

Asphalt roof shingles are commonplace across the roofs of American homes. Many countries have used ceramic tiles for hundreds of years. In my travels to Italy, at the end of the 1980s, I saw firsthand the ubiquitous orange terra cotta tiles that covered the roofs of residential and commercial buildings in Florence. Years later in Japan, I saw the use of equally ubiquitous roof tiles. The orange Italian tiles are curved symmetrically like a shallow tunnel, while the gray Japanese tiles are curved more like a shallow wave. The upper left of the sketch below illustrates the wave curve. To learn more about the tiles, I visited a tile factory in Japan, and this sketch also shows, on the right side, an illustration of how hanging armatures carry the tiles in and out of the glazing booth.

The Japanese tiles often...

I am pleased to share these graphics as well as the drawings from my travels around the world over the past three decades. The ink sketches are all from field observations drawn on fold-out sketch books, most of which are about seven feet long. Given that there are thousands of images in the numerous drawing books, I hope that you enjoy the work that I have included here from Asia, Eastern Europe, North America, Central America, and many other places. In many cases, the drawings document design and innovation that are not landmarks. Overall, I enjoy seeing and celebrating the extraordinary in the ordinary. About the illustrator and author: Charlie Szoradi is an architect, inventor, and sustainability professional. He is passionate...