tokyo steel house by MDS built from a system of metal plates

29,458 articles

SHARE AND PROMOTE YOUR WORK

since 1999, home of design culture, designboom has been the world's
first online magazine. we welcome readers to submit projects. START UPLOADING

tokyo steel house by MDS built from a system of metal plates

Nov 28, 2012

first image
'tokyo steel house' by MDS, tokyo, japan
image © hiroshi ueda
all images courtesy of MDS

situated on a slender 5 meter by 16 meter plot, the 'tokyo steel house' by local practice MDS is a metal skeleton sitting on a reinforced concrete
foundation that holds the subterranean garage. four floors are located within the steel construction, supported by composite steel beams sandwiched
within wooden planks. the interior spaces are mostly all connected, functioning as a large continuous space, which helps regulate interior temperatures
with the thin timber panel finish acting as the only insulation, with a total wall thickness of 100 mm. an double-layered expanded metal wall represents
the southern facade, together with a roof terrace and atrium plenty of light can get into the structure while obscuring visibility from the street.
interior materials contrast the cold exterior appearance, with softer rubber tiles and tatami mats regulating the proportions of the separate functions inside.
the construction was made to adapt to any environment, maximizing floor area on smaller site due to the thinness of the exterior envelope, using material
properties and internal volume to regulate temperatures passively.

(left) approach
(right) detail of the expanded metal screens
image © hiroshi ueda

expanded metal southern facade with operable windows
image © hiroshi ueda

continuous interior space delineated by tatami proportions
image © hiroshi ueda

interior
image © hiroshi ueda

light stairs supported on thin metal dowels
image © hiroshi ueda

living room
image © hiroshi ueda

(left) bathroom
(right) view from the top floor terrace
image © hiroshi ueda

construction of the thin metal envelope
image © hiroshi ueda

image © hiroshi ueda

wood planks flank the thin metal joists
image © hiroshi ueda

floor construction
image © hiroshi ueda

floor plan / level 0

floor plan / level 1

floor plan / level 2

floor plan / level -1

section

project info:

location: minato-ku, tokyo
principal use: residence
structure: steel
site area: 84.23m2
total floor area: 154.44m2 (49.90m2/1f, 49.14m2/2f, 31.68m2/3f, 23.72m2/b1f)
exterior finish: galvanized color steel sheet standing-seam roofing , expanded metal fence
roof: galvanized color steel sheet standing-seam roofing
floor: rubber tile, tatami
wall: steel plate
ceiling: acrylic emulsion paint + plaster board

danny db

11.28.12

MDS (7 articles)

I like the interface between the perimeter structure and the hoizontal components

dbkii says:

Nov 28, 2012

Reply
So good to see construction pictures. They help to define the structure.
Although, I don’t like the single plank on the four story scaffolding.
Goon design. Nice interiors.

Dan says:

Nov 28, 2012

Reply

name (required)

e-mail (will not be published) (required)

comments policy

tips:
- to start a new line press enter
- to create a link type www

designboom's comment policy guidelines
generally speaking, if we publish something, it's because we're genuinely interested in the subject.
we hope you'll share this interest and if you know even more about it, please share!
our goal in the discussion threads is to have good conversation and we prefer constructive opinions.
we and our readers have fun with entertaining ones
. designboom welcomes alerts about typos, incorrect names, and the like.
the correction is at the discretion of the post editor and may not happen immediately.

what if you disagree with what we or another commenter has to say?
let's hear it! but please understand that offensive, inappropriate, or just plain annoying comments may be deleted or shortened.

- please do not make racist, sexist, anti-semitic, homophobic or otherwise offensive comments.
- please don't personally insult the writers or your fellow commenters.
- please avoid using offensive words, replacing a few letters with asterisks is not a valid workaround.
- please don't include your website or e-mail address in your comments for the purpose of self-promotion.
- please respect jury verdicts and do not discuss offensively on the competition results
(there is only one fist prize, and designboom usually asks renown professionals to help us to promote talent.
in addition to the awarded designs, we do feel that almost all deserve our attention, that is why we publish
the best 100-200 entries too.)

a link is allowed in comments as long as they add value in the form of information, images, humor, etc.
(links to the front page of your personal blog or website are not okay).
unwelcome links (to commercial products or services of others, offensive material etc. ) will be redacted.
and, ...
yes, spam gets banned.
no, we do not post fake comments.

LOG IN VIA

MDS (7 articles)

MDS: yatsugatake villa

a wooden mountain house is designed to adapt to extreme cold and hot temperatures and to create a close (read more)

MDS: fukasawa house

fine craftsmanship and a careful organization of space adds a substantial amount of livable area in a (read more)

MDS: ogikubo house

three separate volumes are interconnected with a glass-enclosed stairwell to break away from the pattern (read more)

tokyo steel house by MDS built from a system of metal plates

the paper-thin metal house uses simple passive strategies to keep the open space comfortable and (read more)

MDS: mejiro house

a privacy wall allows daylight to enter the subgrade glass-enclosed living spaces while maintaining (read more)

POPULAR TODAY ARCHITECTURE

world's tallest building will break ground soon

the developer made waves when they announced the world's tallest building would be constructed in 90 >>

paul cremoux studio: cormanca house

making the most of a small site in a hot climate, the house implements several passive design elements, >>

finca bellavista: a tree house community

the world's first planned, contemporary, sustainable treehouse community is a tectonically rich >>

serpentine pavilion 2013 by sou fujimoto nears completion

the first images of the construction of the serpentine pavilion 2013 are surfacing from several sources >>

studio liu lubin: micro house in beijing park

the chinese studio has installed the consolidated micro-home in a beijing park, seeking to work around >>

29,458 articles

copyright

thank you for reading designboom.
a relevant part of what you see on designboom is produced by our in-house-team of designers and architects. © designboom 1999-2012, some rights reserved. copyright of photos belong to each photographer/creative studio/company mentioned. more info here.

readers' content submissions
readers understand that all information, data, text, sound, photographs, graphics, video, postings, messages, software, tags, advertisements or other materials (content), whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, are the sole responsibility of the person from whom such content originated. this means that readers are entirely responsible for all submitted content, which is intended to be available to the general public, that you upload, post, t ransmit or otherwise make available through designboom. we do monitor and edit the submitted content, but we do not control / verify t he content posted and, as such, we do not guarantee the accuracy or integrity of it and disclaim any and all liability in connection with readers' submissions. readers understand that we are not obligated t o pre-screen, regularly review, delete or otherwise change the content associated with the submitted content and / or DIY readers' submissions. we do, however, reserve the right to do so at any time in our sole discretion, for any reason or no reason, and to delete any content with or without notice. readers represent and warrant that they own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to use and authorize designboom to use all trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights in and to any and all member content to enable inclusion and use of the submitted content. designboom does not claim ownership rights over the submitted content. however, readers grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, transferable, royalty-free and non-exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display the submitted content, solely for the purpose for which such content was submitted or made available. under no circumstances will we be liable in any way for any content, including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in any content, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any content posted, emailed, transmitted or otherwise made available through the submission system.

external links
designboom may provide links to other websites or resources. because we have no control over such resources, readers acknowledge and agree that designboom is not responsible for the availability of such external resources, and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products or other materials on or available from such resources. readers further acknowledge and agree that designboom will not be liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use or reliance on any such content, goods or services available on or through any such resource.

by accessing the designboom publication, readers accept, without limitation or qualification, these terms of use, copyrights and our privacy policy, which is incorporated in our publication.

PRIVACY

privacy

designboom recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy of all information provided by users of our web site, subscribers to our on-line education and events, recipients of our e-mail newsletter, participants of our competitions and all of our customers. we created this policy with a fundamental respect for our users’ right to privacy and to guide our relationships with our users.

signing up
for certain selected services (such as free newsletter subscriptions, competitions, on-line education courses), users must first register. recipients of our newsletter can unsubscribe using the instructions listed at the end of the e-mail newsletter. for our services that require payment (such as certain events, products and subscriptions), we do not receive and do not collect credit card information.

during registration
we ask for contact information. newsletter subscribers are required to give only their e-mail address, participants of on-line education courses, competitions and special events are asked to give also their name, age, gender and mailing address.

designboom collects information
from our website users, subscribers and customers for internal purposes. we use this information to communicate with users and provide requested services. we also collect the data for internal (and for business affiliates) audit verification purposes. we do not sell this data to third parties.

communications with us
we have features where users can submit information to us. letters to the editor and similar submissions may be made public. requests for service, support or information may be forwarded as needed to best respond to a specific request.

with whome your information is shared
when we have co-branded, or when we join with other parties to provide specific services (such as events, competitions), we may share (provide and receive) personal information with them. other than as set forth above, we do not share personally identifiable information with other companies.

security
we use reasonable precautions to protect our users’ personal information and to store it securely. the servers on which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.

NEWSLETTER

364,149 subscribers

keep upto date with recent articles and upcoming events.
to receive both newsletters please check 2 boxes.

SUBMISSIONS