Shigeru Ban’s Metal Shutter Houses
Shigeru Ban's Metal Shutter Houses are going up in west Chelsea. That's the name for a condo with nine duplex apartments with jaw-dropping exterior features.
"The Metal Shutter Houses" have walls that lift up completely out of the way, as well as "perforated metal shutters that operate exactly like the rolling grates of the Chelsea galleries and Korean delis that inspired them."
The facade motorized perforated metal shutters serve as light-modulating privacy screen at the outer edge of each residence's terrace adjacent to the double-height living rooms.
This subtle "removable skin" echoes the neighboring gallery after-hours shutters, subtly contextualizing the building within its site. The building can literally close down, becoming a uniform minimal cube, or it can open completely (as well as virtually unlimited permutations between). South of the terrace, twenty foot tall, upwardly pivoting glass windows open completely, thus blurring the boundary between the inside and outside – the double height living room and terrace become one. Similarly, a series of interior sliding glass doors create an open "universal floor" in each of the duplex houses – one vast and uninterrupted expanse which transitions seamlessly from inside to outside, or partition the space into private areas.
Link Via [The New York Times]
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