Suzushisa
- Subtitle
- A pleasant feeling of coolness
- Location
- Tokyo, Japan
- Subject
- Retrofit of the Kasumigaseki building, Japan's first high-rise office building
- Course
- TU Delft, MSc individual graduation thesis, Explore Lab · Dr.ir. A. M. Eijkelenboom and Geert Coumans · 2025–2026 · awarded cum laude
- Publication
- “Visual Attention and Perceived Psychological Restoration in the Retrofit of Japan’s First High-Rise Office Building Informed by Japanese Architectural Design Principles: A Virtual Reality Eye-Tracking Study” · journal manuscript in preparation
- By
- Tom Kobayashi
The concept of suzushisa refers both physiologically and psychologically to the pleasant feeling of coolness. It is becoming increasingly crucial as the urban heat island phenomenon intensifies thermal stress, while government energy conservation strategies have shifted that challenge into ageing office environments — a large proportion of the existing building stock, and one where thermal discomfort is closely linked to physical and mental health issues.
The thesis answers with a data-informed approach to retrofitting Japan's first high-rise office building, the Kasumigaseki, through eye-tracking studies and vernacular Japanese architectural knowledge, to address physiological and psychological heat stress. A controlled VR experiment with 31 participants investigated visual attention and self-reported physiological responses; a field study in Tokyo added mobile eye-tracking, thermography, WBGT and noise measurements and a questionnaire answered by 114 people.
