Curtain Wall House
Tokyo, Japan · 1995
Photo · Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai
A precedent-setting residential design demonstrating how giant, operable fabric curtains can replace traditional solid exterior walls to negotiate privacy, light, and exposure in a dense urban context.
- What we like about this project
- The giant curtain is hung on a heavy-duty curved track running along the outermost edge of the roof slab.
Materials
- fabric
- steel
- concrete
- glass
- wood-paneling
Visual identifiers
- giant-curtain
- cantilevered-deck
- triangular-roof
- open-corner
- slender-columns
Style tags
- modernist
- experimental
- japanese-minimalism
Visual tags
- residential
- operable-facade
- textile-architecture
- urban-infill
- indoor-outdoor
- minimalist
- Geometry
- A wedge-shaped, double-height open corner volume defined by a sharply projecting triangular roof slab and a matching cantilevered floor deck. The structure is supported by slender circular columns.
- Facade system
- Operable double-height fabric curtain wall system with recessed sliding glass doors.
- Structural guess
- Steel frame with cantilevered concrete slabs and slender steel columns
- Spatial scale
- Two-story residential scale with a highly elevated main living deck.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct daylight casting sharp shadows under the deep roof overhang, highlighting the texture of the draped fabric.
- Atmosphere
- A striking contrast between the soft, billowing white fabric and the sharp, rigid geometry of the white steel and concrete frame.
- Environmental context
- Dense, tight Japanese urban neighborhood with multi-story residential buildings and utility poles immediately adjacent.
- Spatial experience
- The interior living spaces merge completely with the outdoor deck when the massive, two-story fabric curtains are drawn aside, creating an extreme sense of openness and vulnerability to the urban elements.
- Composition rhythm
- The strong horizontal lines of the cantilevered decks and roof slab are balanced by the vertical folds of the massive curtains and slender columns.
- Style reading
- Japanese high-modernist minimalism with experimental textile integration
- Program
- Single-family private residence
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- fabric, steel, concrete, glass, wood-paneling
- Visual identifiers
- giant-curtain, cantilevered-deck, triangular-roof, open-corner, slender-columns
- Style tags
- modernist, experimental, japanese-minimalism
- Visual tags
- residential, operable-facade, textile-architecture, urban-infill, indoor-outdoor, minimalist
- Geometry
- A wedge-shaped, double-height open corner volume defined by a sharply projecting triangular roof slab and a matching cantilevered floor deck. The structure is supported by slender circular columns.
- Facade system
- Operable double-height fabric curtain wall system with recessed sliding glass doors.
- Structural guess
- Steel frame with cantilevered concrete slabs and slender steel columns
- Spatial scale
- Two-story residential scale with a highly elevated main living deck.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct daylight casting sharp shadows under the deep roof overhang, highlighting the texture of the draped fabric.
- Atmosphere
- A striking contrast between the soft, billowing white fabric and the sharp, rigid geometry of the white steel and concrete frame.
- Environmental context
- Dense, tight Japanese urban neighborhood with multi-story residential buildings and utility poles immediately adjacent.
- Spatial experience
- The interior living spaces merge completely with the outdoor deck when the massive, two-story fabric curtains are drawn aside, creating an extreme sense of openness and vulnerability to the urban elements.
- Composition rhythm
- The strong horizontal lines of the cantilevered decks and roof slab are balanced by the vertical folds of the massive curtains and slender columns.
- Style reading
- Japanese high-modernist minimalism with experimental textile integration
- Program
- Single-family private residence
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture