Nara Period Essay

• Nara Period:
The Nara Period was a short span of time from 710 – 794 BCE. The temples and the palace buildings built during this period followed the “Tang Style of China”.
• Heian Period:
The Heian Period was between 794 – 1184 BCE. From this period, the Chinese designs were fully assimilated and incorporated into forming the national style. The “Shinden – Zukuri Syle” was adopted for the construction of the buildings of the nobles. In this style the sleeping quarters and the main building was placed in the centre while the surrounding quarters lay on the outside. The two were connected via corridors. Locally abundantly available heavy materials of clay, mortar, stones, etc were used. Simple wooden floors, walls and partitions started gaining

The “Shinto” shrines were largely influenced form the architectural styles of the Buddhist temples. During the latter half of the Heian Period, appearances of vernacular houses in the “Mink” style was first documented. The use of local materials and labor for the construction was the characteristics of this style. The houses were made of wood with packed earth floors and thatched

These structures are already made in the production units and need to be assembled at the site. Another advancement that the nation has made is the use of seismic resistant technology for the building up of houses. The high rise buildings are buttressed with braces and shock absorbers which are bolted in the inner steel structures. The masonry walls of the middle rise buildings are reinforced with diagonal steel beams and sprayed concretes. They are isolated from the foundations by steel and rubber pads and dampers are inserted to absorb shocks. It helps in stabilizing the building and helping in reducing the lateral forces that causes destruction by shaking side to side. Diagonal dampers that look and work like car shock absorbers are placed at the foundation levels of the buildings, slider bearings are placed on steel discs that allow the foundations to shift, and seismic isolators made up of steel and rubber are stacked under the foundations to dissipate the