Administrative Building in Futtsu
- Katja Pfeiffer
Rising against the backdrop of a production and storage hall, the seemingly weightless roof of this administrative pavilion of a steel construction firm consists on the underside of inverted pyramids of 6 mm thick preoxidized steel – a reference to the dune-like surrounding landscape. Erected in 2016 near Tokyo Bay, the building has a steel-frame structure that reflects the identity of the concern. In contrast to the enclosed hall, the pavilion is smaller in scale and glazed on three faces. To the north-east it is closed off by a service tract clad with dark trapezoidal-section metal sheeting, while the light-coloured internal surfaces reflect the white metal facade of the hall. The steel-frame roof structure of the pavilion consists of wide-flange beams and is based on an irregular grid with five different axial dimensions. Slender hollow-section columns bear the loads at the nodes. The pyramidal elements are of different sizes, but always of the same height, and form a planar space frame. The ceiling grid corresponds to the spatial layout. The void within the roof houses warm- and cold-air runs and acts as a thermal buffer.
