The purpose of creating the archives of The Sekisui Heim M1

The Sekisui Heim M1, was the sole selection among houses which had been produced by the industrialized construction method for the “Selection of DOCOMOMO 100 Japan.” We developed it together with Dr. Katsuhiko Ohno, pursuing high performance and high quality in the stages of its development, by adopting the innovative technology of the Unit Construction System. It was introduced at the first “Tokyo International Good Living Show” in 1970.  Ever since that time, we have been supplying these units for housing additions and for renovation requirements to the approximately 10,000 homeowners who still live in those houses.

We are pleased that the Sekisui Heim M1 has been recognized as a cultural asset, to be preserved as a piece of architectural history. In consideration of its social importance, and of the purpose of DOCOMOMO, we have initiated research on our own Sekisui Heim M1 and we have taken measures to preserve the documentation on it.  In 2004, we moved one of our original Sekisui Heim M1 houses for the purpose of preserving it. We then proceeded with the making of archives of collected materials, part of which is available for viewing on our web site. It will be our pleasure if this site is useful for further understanding of the Sekisui Heim M1 and can help in the study of the modern movement of architecture.

Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.
Teiji Koge, President & Representative Director

In 1960, during the postwar economic growth, cities began to develop rapidly. This boom, however, did not improve the living environment, but created chaos instead. In addition, a high demand for housing caused hikes in housing prices and shortages of materials and craftsmen. This was considered to be a severe social problem. These circumstances led to the development of our Unit Construction System, the Sekisui Heim M1, for the purpose of accumulating good-quality living environmental stock by the renovation of the housing supply system. We applied industrialized technologies, which had begun to show promise in the housing industry at that time.

I expect that this web site, where all of the activities of the design, construction and supply of the Sekisui Heim M1 are covered, will be helpful for further research of the living environment and for producing fruitful results.

　　　　　Ohno Atelier
1st Class Registered Architect Office
Katsuhiko Ohno, Head

What is “Do.co.mo.mo.”?

It is an organization engaged in “the Documentation and Conservation of buildings, sites and neighborhood of the Modern Movement,” and was established in 1988.

Their first international conference was held in 1990 in the Netherlands, and currently there are 40 member countries, all of whom are engaged in the organization’s activities.

The headquarters of DOCOMOMO was initially located in the Netherlands, but is now in Paris, France.

＊DOCOMOMO：The Documentation and Conservation of buildings, sites and neighborhood of the Modern Movement

Selected topics

Documents

Contribution papers for M1 Archives

Recommendation on the subject of Heim M1 Prototype
Professor Jean Englebert

Sekisui Heim M1: Its Place in Modern Architecture
Professor Stephen Kendall

My impression of Sekisui Heim M1
Professor Thomas Bock

Documents
The original brochure of Sekisui Heim
(slide show: 25 pages)

The advertising brochure for debut of Sekisui Heim (the original name of Sekisui Heim M1)

＊Slide show starts automatically.
＊The latest version of Flash Player is required.

Download to view PDF file

Photo gallery
The process of preserving a house

＊Slide show starts automatically.
＊The latest version of Flash Player is required.

Original house (18 photos)

Disassembly on the original site (21 photos)

Renovation in our factory (19 photos)

Construction on a new site (12 photos)

Completion (19 photos)

Publications (Available in Japanese only)

“Today’s Private House and the Entity of the Living Environment”(SD Book Selection 105)

Section 4, from page 91 to 108

Posting of these excerpts is permissible until 11th March 2006

This first book of Dr. Katsuhiko Ohno includes his original concept and his realization the development of the Sekisui Heim M1. The key words here are “Today’s private house”, “Living-Environment System”, “Industrialization”, “Unitization”, “Part-systemization” and “Sub-system”

Section 5 of Dr. Katsuhiko Ohno’s doctoral thesis, “Theory of Part-systemized construction” of Katsuhiko Ohno is available here.

The thesis was prepared along with the development and the production of the Sekisui Heim M1 while studying under Professor Uchida at the University of Tokyo.