Plastic Houses

House of Plastic (ArchitectureWeek, 2005.0914) describes Japanese architect Kengo Kuma's "Plastic House", a small residential structure in Tokyo constructed in large part from glass and fiber-reinforced plastic (there is also loadbearing steel).

According to the article, the appearance and translucency of the 4 millimeter plastic panels are manipulated by varying the materials used for the fiber reinforcing, as well as by the insertion of paper sheets or insulating materials. Fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) is used in many parts of the structure include for example, decking, cladding, screening, and stairs.

Kuma  states, "If I were to describe the architecture of the 20th century with one word, it would be 'concrete'. Its freedom and universality fit the 20th century so well that other local methods of construction were abandoned. Moreover, the strength of the solid mass achieved in transformation from thick liquid substance suited an era that desired monumentality and security of privacy. Therefore to seek for a substitute [material] is not a mere formal proposal but an attempt to suggest a principle of living that replaces the fundamentals of the 20th century — freedom (of course, in the sense of the era), strength, and security."