Architectural Pilgrimage: Shigeru Ban’s Metal Shutter House

The most interesting aspect of Metal Shutter Houses is the relationship between openness and privacy. Behind the metal screens are dramatic, double-height living spaces with glass walls that pivot upward, allowing interior rooms and outdoor terraces to become continuous. Ban has effectively given the residents control over the building’s exterior appearance. The perforated shutters also reference the security grilles historically found on Chelsea’s warehouses and galleries, connecting a contemporary building to the neighborhood’s industrial past.

Visit 524 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, and spend some time looking at the façade. Depending on which shutters are open, the building may look entirely different from the photographs you have seen. It is a private residential building, so this is an architectural pilgrimage to experience from the street. I especially love the idea that a building can be designed to change throughout the day, responding to the lives unfolding inside it.