Evaluation of designs for reuse of Japanese style houses in Taiwan

Abstract

During the Japanese Colonial Period, the Japanese built many Japanese style houses in Taiwan. The residents of these Japanese style houses changed after World War II, but they were still used as residential houses. Starting in the 1990s, many of these houses have been dismantled because of obsolescence. This has also brought opportunities for conservation and reuse. However, there have been many diverse ideas for the redesign of Japanese style houses. It has been difficult to reach any consensus on the reuse of these houses. This study has proposed obtaining criteria weights by use of the Analysis Hierarchy Process, and has employed fuzzy set theory and TOPSIS to evaluate the performance of reuse design in actual cases. The results have indicated that using this method can integrate opinions from diverse personnel, so that the decision-making process on reuse design may be made smoother, and become comprehensive.