Spiral
Tokyo, Japan · 1985
A key precedent for a collage-like, layered facade composition using aluminum panels, glass grids, and distinct geometric volumes, demonstrating Fumihiko Maki's mastery of urban scale and material articulation.
- What we like about this project
- A white conical structure nestled within an upper-level open-air frame.
Materials
- aluminum-panels
- glass
- steel
- concrete
Visual identifiers
- gridded-screen
- aluminum-cladding
- conical-roof
- geometric-collage
- layered-facade
Style tags
- late-modernist
- metabolist
- japanese-modernism
Visual tags
- metabolism
- modernism
- japanese-architecture
- collage-facade
- urban-infill
- Geometry
- A complex collage of geometric forms including a large gridded square screen, a conical fabric-like structure, a curved cylindrical volume, and a rectilinear frame with punched square openings.
- Facade system
- Aluminum rainscreen panels combined with steel-framed curtain walls and a custom gridded screen.
- Structural guess
- Steel frame with reinforced concrete core
- Spatial scale
- Multi-story civic/commercial scale, with individual facade components corresponding to different floor levels.
- Lighting
- Soft, directional daylight casting subtle shadows that define the layered planes and geometric volumes.
- Atmosphere
- A rational yet playful composition of metallic and glass forms under a clear sky.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban context in Tokyo, flanked closely by multi-story commercial buildings.
- Spatial experience
- The facade reads as a layered, three-dimensional composition where deep recesses, glazed voids, and solid panels create a dynamic play of depth and shadow.
- Composition rhythm
- Asymmetrical balance of a large gridded square on the left, balanced by a solid paneled wall with punched openings and a conical volume on the right.
- Style reading
- Late Modernist / Metabolist-influenced collage
- Program
- Cultural and commercial center
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- aluminum-panels, glass, steel, concrete
- Visual identifiers
- gridded-screen, aluminum-cladding, conical-roof, geometric-collage, layered-facade
- Style tags
- late-modernist, metabolist, japanese-modernism
- Visual tags
- metabolism, modernism, japanese-architecture, collage-facade, urban-infill
- Geometry
- A complex collage of geometric forms including a large gridded square screen, a conical fabric-like structure, a curved cylindrical volume, and a rectilinear frame with punched square openings.
- Facade system
- Aluminum rainscreen panels combined with steel-framed curtain walls and a custom gridded screen.
- Structural guess
- Steel frame with reinforced concrete core
- Spatial scale
- Multi-story civic/commercial scale, with individual facade components corresponding to different floor levels.
- Lighting
- Soft, directional daylight casting subtle shadows that define the layered planes and geometric volumes.
- Atmosphere
- A rational yet playful composition of metallic and glass forms under a clear sky.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban context in Tokyo, flanked closely by multi-story commercial buildings.
- Spatial experience
- The facade reads as a layered, three-dimensional composition where deep recesses, glazed voids, and solid panels create a dynamic play of depth and shadow.
- Composition rhythm
- Asymmetrical balance of a large gridded square on the left, balanced by a solid paneled wall with punched openings and a conical volume on the right.
- Style reading
- Late Modernist / Metabolist-influenced collage
- Program
- Cultural and commercial center
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture