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Honma Lab
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The lab uses data and mathematical models to understand how people behave and how spaces are used.
AboutAbout the lab
Architecture, cities, and transportation, studied through human behavior and data.
Honma Lab studies analysis and design using mathematical modeling, focusing on human behavior in buildings and cities.
The lab works with measured data and mathematical modeling at scales ranging from the interior of a building to the national territory.
Topics are varied: people's gaze in art museums, the coexistence of pedestrians and cars in streetscapes, seasonal changes in urban parks, and the placement of roadside stations (Michi-no-Eki).
Students are not required to be familiar with mathematics or programming at admission, and applicants from other universities and other labs are welcome.
Key terms
- Mathematical modeling
- A method of expressing a phenomenon in mathematical equations, then using computation to study its properties or search for better solutions
- Convex space
- A space in which every point in the interior is visible from every other point. It is regarded as a part that people tend to perceive as a single unit
- Mathematical optimization
- A method of using computation to find the best option, in light of a given objective, among those that satisfy the conditions
NewsLab news
Lab exhibit held at the Komaba Research Campus Open House
The University of Tokyo–DENSO industry-academia co-creation program launches, with Associate Professor Honma as Lab Director on the UTokyo side
Internationally co-authored paper published in the international journal Transportmetrica A
Paper summarizing the results of a design studio accepted by the journal of the Society of Architectural Informatics
Paper on the long-term benefits of greening published in the Journal of Architecture and Planning (Transactions of AIJ)
ResearchResearch themes
The lab investigates human behavior and how spaces are used, from the interior of buildings to the scale of the national territory, using measured data and mathematical modeling. It measures, calculates, and explains phenomena that are hard to see from drawings and words alone, and connects them to better planning.
*Illustrative imageReading Architectural Space Through Convex Spaces
The lab extracts every convex space within a building floor plan and analyzes their shapes and connections. This reveals the overall structure of a space, such as which areas are public and which are private.
*Illustrative imageEstimating Movement Inside Buildings with Beacons
The lab proposes a method to reconstruct people's movement trajectories inside buildings from the coarse data of easy-to-install BLE beacons. It can show which areas are heavily used and where people move slowly.
*Illustrative imageEvaluating Exhibition Spaces Through Gaze
In settings such as art museums, the lab focuses on the difference between seeing others and being seen by others. Using mathematical optimization, it analyzes where people feel at ease and how many people a space can comfortably accommodate.
*Illustrative imageAutomatic Floor Plan Generation
In collaboration with companies, the lab is developing a method that builds conditions such as the site, building regulations, and required rooms into constraints and automatically generates floor plan proposals through mathematical optimization. It is an effort to support early-stage design decisions.
MembersFaculty
The members of Honma Lab consist of faculty, administrative assistants, doctoral and master's students, and research fellows and collaborating researchers.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorYudai HonmaPublications ↗
- Project LecturerMariko Ito
- Assistant ProfessorHiroyuki Hasada
- Project Assistant ProfessorTakako Watanabe
- Project Assistant ProfessorJunya Maruyama
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Barabasi Albert 1000nodes” Keiichiro Ono / CC BY-SA 2.5 (cropped)
- Reading Architectural Space Through Convex Spaces: “Convex hull” Sdo / CC BY-SA 2.5 (cropped)
- Estimating Movement Inside Buildings with Beacons: “AoA&AoD” Martin Woolley / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Evaluating Exhibition Spaces Through Gaze: “221001 Hiroshi Senju Museum Karuizawa Nagano pref Japan05s3” 663highland / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Automatic Floor Plan Generation: “A04 - DENAH LANTAI 1 Model (1)” Jendralwedus31 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Honma Lab): “Komaba Research Campus (Evening) color” Guwashi / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Imai Lab): “Tokyo Shinjuku Oka2” Okajun / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Matsuda Lab): “Hakata Exit Station Square the tactile walking surface indicators Hakata-eki-chūōgai Hakata-ku Fukuoka” Hirho / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Okabe Lab): “Kawasaki Nihon Minkaen-3” Fg2 / Public domain (cropped)
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