tokyo – Shanghai Metal Corporation

Unique steel facade

Are you annoyed when somebody is staring at you while you are at home? Yes, you may have the curtains, but there is still that feeling : “Oh what if people see me?”

Amano Design Office found a way for solving this a bit paranoiac problem. He wrapped the office block in Tokyo with steel ribbons. Their client, Dear Jingumae Building asked them to come up with some idea how to give the existing structure the new facade and keep it from the eyes of the neighbours.

Designers wanted to cover it in such a way that would be accepted by passersby while standing out of surrounded buildings.

This 25 years old structure served as the office before but now it will accommodate a shop on one of its floors. The curving stainless steel wraps around the floors creating curves.

Large windows can be glimpsed through gaps in the louvres and that way allow light to gently enter the building. A design team expected this building to vitalize neighborhood and add richness and variety to the street. An external staircase leads up from the facade to the first floor.

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers wide range of steel products. For more information you can visit the main website or send us inquiry. English speaking staff will help you to find the most suitable product for you. Download our new application by scanning QR code or follow us on Social Media.

Silvia M.//SMC Editor

Read more articles written by this author here.

Credits : dezeen.com, steelmag.com, googleimages

New Japanese Maglev train !

Maglev is a method of transportation which uses the magnetic levitation to carry vehicles with mag-nets rather than with wheels. Maglev trains move more smoothly and more quietly than the others ways of transportation. The power which is needed for levitation is not a large percentage of the overall energy consumption, the power is actually needed for overcoming the air-resistance.

Japanese invented high speed rail in 1964 with their first Shinkansen bullet train and nowadays they are coming with next generation of fast trains with its first public test! This new Maglev train can hit 311 mph using “L-Zero” technology. Passengers can get from Tokyo to Nagoya within 40 minutes. Public tests rides will begin this November when 178 mile (286 kilometer) route officially opens and there will be six stations.

L0 On Guideway 2_0 — “L-Zero” technology

“L-Zero” technology means that train speeds of around 100 mph (160km/h) before the engaging the maglev system and then slowly accelerating to the top speed 311 mph (500 km/h). Japanese want to successfully demonstrate that Maglev trains work properly because Japan wants to export this technology. Japenese government recently offered a $5 billion down payment to build a maglev train from Washington to Baltimore which would take just 15 minutes. But the only maglev train is now operating in Shanghai, China. This Shanghai Maglev train operates with 268 mph (431 km/h) speed and travels 19 miles (30.5 km) from the airport to the city within 8 minutes.

shanghai maglev train — Shanghai Maglev train

In Shanghai Metal Corporation we serve our customers as fast as Japanese Maglev train, besides we offer high quality products. For more information you can visit our website or send us inquiry. You could also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LindkedIn or you could download our new application by scanning QR code below.

Silvia M.//SMC Editor

Read more articles written by this author here.

Credits : wikipedia,org, inhabitat.com, urbila.com

Copper doesn’t just make cents

The surge in copper prices has recently lead to thefts of this red metal all over the world. Gutter, cables, coils or pipes have been ripped off buildings and they are sold on the black markets. These thieves are only interested in financial gain but architects are using copper more and more, not for just practical purposes but also for its aesthetic allure. Let’s have a look!

Happo Museum – Tshwane, South Africa

Hapo Museum (hapo = hope or dream in the Khoi language) was designed by GAPP, Mashabane Rose Architects and MMA to showcase over 3 billions years of history in South Africa. The building complex is clad with copper panels which are meant to age naturally. “With walls and roof all clad in copper sheeting, the outcrop will rust to green and merge with the natural landscape.” state the architects.

Fujitsubo Beauty Parlor – Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo’s trendy Omotesando district has an incredible parlor Fujitsubo (“barnacle” in Japenese) Beauty Parlor. Japenese Archivision Hirotani Studio built it with a great example of copper cladding continuously from rooftop to the ground. It is bright and reflective and supposed to age incrementally to degrees dependent on amounts of sunlight and rain received at different areas of the structure.

fujitsubo01 — Fujitsubo Beauty Parlor, Japan

The Rock at Wellington International Airport – Wellington, New Zealand

This “Rock” was designed by Studio Pacific Architecture. They wanted to combine functionality and capacity that should become a memorable visitor experience at the airpoirt. The rock’s folded copper-clad walls are intended to invoke the character of Wellington’s South Coast area.

The-Rock-CD-Pictures-001-584x271 — Wellington’s Rock, New Zealand

There are even more copper buildings like Villa ArenA Woonmall Restaurant – Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Schloss Grafenegg Concert Hall – Grafenegg Castle, Austria, Svalbard Science Centre – Longyearbyen, Norway and others.

villa arena amsterdam — Villa Arena, Netherlands

austria — Schloss Grafenegg Concert Hall, Austria

norway — Svalbard Science Centre, Norway

You can find more about copper products on Shanghai Metal Corporation’s website or send us inquiry. Our English speaking personnel will gladly help you with any problems. We will be happy if you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LindkedIn. You could also download our new application by scanning QR code below.

Silvia M.//SMC Editor

You can find more articles written by this author here.

Credits : weburbanist.com, inhabitat.com, copperinvestingnews.com, archdaily.com, googleimages

LEGO Lands On British Shores

Have you ever stepped on a LEGO piece? How about 4.8 million of them?

In 1997 a shipping container filled with 4.8 million Lego pieces fell from a cargo ship off the coast of Cornwall in southern England. The BBC reports that pieces are still floating to shore 17 years later. The Tokio Express captain described the wave that hit the ship as a “once in a 100-year phenomenon.” The ship tilted 60 degrees one way, then 40 degrees back, sending more than 60 containers into the water.

Tracey Williams has started a Facebook page to track the Lego pieces that continue to wash ashore to this day. Take a look at some of what has washed up:

It is one of 353,264 plastic daisies dropped into the sea.

Chris Koch, the president of the World Shipping Council, says there is an “array” of legislation in force regarding the construction of containers – each one costing £2,927 ($5,000, 3,671 euros) – and how they are stacked aboard container ships.

“The predominant cause of loss is very, very bad weather, when the forces of nature overcome the forces of lashing the containers to the ship. The industry does what it can, but it can’t control Mother Nature.”

Shanghai Metal manufactures shipping containers. We are the leading manufacturer and supplier in China. From the acquisition of raw materials, packaging and exportation, SMC ensures only the best quality of products. By assigning professional experts at every stage of production, we ensure continuous support with our worldwide business. To find out more, please visit our website, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

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To Escalate Or Not To Escalate? That Is The Question

We’ve all been there. Rushing to catch that last train, looking to rush down and escalator – but wait. Someone is standing in the walking lane. Great. Will you say something? That is indeed the question.

Escalator etiquette differs from country to country. Tokyo considered banning walking on escalators but it was never enforced. And in the UK, people of a certain age will remember the chilling public information films of the 1970’s that featured a pair of children’s blue wellington boots getting sucked into the machinery. “Stand still and don’t walk down,” it urged. Confusingly walking on the left is signposted in the UK nowadays and is adhered to by 90% of people according to a The University of Greenwich study in 2011.

In Toronto tension has been defused since the signs telling people to walk on the left were removed, says commuter Tom Robertson. “You can tell some people get a little annoyed when they are standing behind someone on the left but I’ve never seen anyone say anything about it. I think many people have forgotten about the signs.”

Conversely, Shanghai defeats all of these social norms, and it was measured that just 2.6% adhere to the stand right walk left custom, despite yellow lines being painted along the escalator steps. Additionally Australia turns the system on its head by walking right and standing left. In Wyoming it’s a non issue as there are only two escalators in the entire state.

So what is there to do to standardize this seemingly universal etiquette? You would be urgently but ever so politely be told to move aside in London, whereas in Shanghai more likely you would be pushed or elbowed in submission – whether you were in the way or not.

So what is the solution? There are walkers and standers as Michael Bloomberg Mayor of New York has said – he always walks on escalators. And since they study says walkers are the minority (25% in London, 3% in Shanghai), ultimately they shouldn’t get to dictate the rules – so the silent majority of standers prevails.

Shanghai Metal manufactures value added steel bars used in the production of escalators. To find out more, please visit our website, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.