St Mary’s Cathedral
Tokyo, Japan · 1955
Photo · Photo by Hartmut Pohling/japan-photo.de
A precedent for monumental sacred architecture utilizing hyperbolic paraboloid stainless steel shells to create a soaring, sculptural envelope.
Materials
- stainless-steel
- concrete
- glass
Visual identifiers
- hyperbolic-paraboloid
- stainless-steel-cladding
- vertical-glazing-slot
- concrete-podium
Style tags
- structural-expressionism
- modernist
- sculptural
Visual tags
- monumental
- expressionist
- metallic-facade
- sacred-architecture
- mid-century-modernism
- Geometry
- Hyperbolic paraboloid shells rise as soaring, curved vertical planes that converge toward a central vertical glazed slot.
- Facade system
- Ribbed stainless steel sheet cladding over a reinforced concrete structure.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete thin-shell structure
- Spatial scale
- Monumental, cathedral-scale structure towering over human-scaled concrete podium elements.
- Lighting
- Overcast, diffused daylight casting soft gradients across the ribbed metallic cladding.
- Atmosphere
- A dramatic, solemn, and futuristic presence under a cloudy sky.
- Environmental context
- Set within an urban context, surrounded by low-rise concrete auxiliary structures and sparse landscaping.
- Spatial experience
- The building presents a monumental, soaring verticality from the exterior, with sweeping metallic surfaces that channel the eye upward toward the sky.
- Composition rhythm
- Symmetrical, dynamic upward sweep balanced by a central vertical axis.
- Style reading
- Mid-century structural expressionism
- Program
- Cathedral / Church
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- stainless-steel, concrete, glass
- Visual identifiers
- hyperbolic-paraboloid, stainless-steel-cladding, vertical-glazing-slot, concrete-podium
- Style tags
- structural-expressionism, modernist, sculptural
- Visual tags
- monumental, expressionist, metallic-facade, sacred-architecture, mid-century-modernism
- Geometry
- Hyperbolic paraboloid shells rise as soaring, curved vertical planes that converge toward a central vertical glazed slot.
- Facade system
- Ribbed stainless steel sheet cladding over a reinforced concrete structure.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete thin-shell structure
- Spatial scale
- Monumental, cathedral-scale structure towering over human-scaled concrete podium elements.
- Lighting
- Overcast, diffused daylight casting soft gradients across the ribbed metallic cladding.
- Atmosphere
- A dramatic, solemn, and futuristic presence under a cloudy sky.
- Environmental context
- Set within an urban context, surrounded by low-rise concrete auxiliary structures and sparse landscaping.
- Spatial experience
- The building presents a monumental, soaring verticality from the exterior, with sweeping metallic surfaces that channel the eye upward toward the sky.
- Composition rhythm
- Symmetrical, dynamic upward sweep balanced by a central vertical axis.
- Style reading
- Mid-century structural expressionism
- Program
- Cathedral / Church
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture