Silver Hut (house)
Nakano-ku, Tokyo, Japan · 1984
Photo · Photo by Tomio Ohashi
A key precedent for lightweight, vaulted space-frame structures and layered, semi-transparent residential envelopes that dissolve the boundary between interior and exterior.
- What we like about this project
- The way the industrial wire-mesh fencing is elevated to a delicate architectural screen.
Materials
- steel-truss
- perforated-metal
- concrete-piers
- wire-mesh
- glass
Visual identifiers
- vaulted-canopy
- space-frame
- perforated-metal-screen
- wire-mesh-fence
- concrete-piers
Style tags
- high-tech
- metabolist-evolution
- lightweight
- transparent
Visual tags
- lightweight-structure
- indoor-outdoor
- translucency
- residential
- japanese-modernism
- Geometry
- A series of lightweight, vaulted space-frame arches span over a rectilinear concrete frame, creating a layered, semi-transparent enclosure.
- Facade system
- Layered screen facade utilizing wire mesh, perforated metal panels, and recessed glazing.
- Structural guess
- Concrete column-and-beam base supporting a lightweight steel space-frame vault.
- Spatial scale
- One-to-two story residential scale with a generous, double-height vaulted courtyard space.
- Lighting
- Dusk ambient light with warm interior spotlights glowing through perforated and mesh screens.
- Atmosphere
- A serene, glowing sanctuary where industrial materials are rendered delicate and airy under a twilight sky.
- Environmental context
- Nestled within a dense residential garden plot in Tokyo.
- Spatial experience
- The transition from the dark garden through a wire-mesh screen and under a soaring, open-air vaulted canopy creates a layered, indoor-outdoor threshold.
- Composition rhythm
- The repeating triangular geometry of the space-frame vault contrasts with the steady, orthogonal rhythm of the concrete support piers.
- Style reading
- Late-modern high-tech metabolism
- Program
- Private residence and courtyard
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- steel-truss, perforated-metal, concrete-piers, wire-mesh, glass
- Visual identifiers
- vaulted-canopy, space-frame, perforated-metal-screen, wire-mesh-fence, concrete-piers
- Style tags
- high-tech, metabolist-evolution, lightweight, transparent
- Visual tags
- lightweight-structure, indoor-outdoor, translucency, residential, japanese-modernism
- Geometry
- A series of lightweight, vaulted space-frame arches span over a rectilinear concrete frame, creating a layered, semi-transparent enclosure.
- Facade system
- Layered screen facade utilizing wire mesh, perforated metal panels, and recessed glazing.
- Structural guess
- Concrete column-and-beam base supporting a lightweight steel space-frame vault.
- Spatial scale
- One-to-two story residential scale with a generous, double-height vaulted courtyard space.
- Lighting
- Dusk ambient light with warm interior spotlights glowing through perforated and mesh screens.
- Atmosphere
- A serene, glowing sanctuary where industrial materials are rendered delicate and airy under a twilight sky.
- Environmental context
- Nestled within a dense residential garden plot in Tokyo.
- Spatial experience
- The transition from the dark garden through a wire-mesh screen and under a soaring, open-air vaulted canopy creates a layered, indoor-outdoor threshold.
- Composition rhythm
- The repeating triangular geometry of the space-frame vault contrasts with the steady, orthogonal rhythm of the concrete support piers.
- Style reading
- Late-modern high-tech metabolism
- Program
- Private residence and courtyard
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture