The interior of one of the capsules as it originally appeared in 1972.
Arcspace, Nakagin Capsule Tower, Pod Interior, image, 2011, https://www.archdaily.com/110745/ad-classics-nakagin-capsule-tower-kisho-kurokawa.
Metabolism, a product of mid century japan, does this movement exist merely on paper, why did it fail to be translated to the ‘real world’?
In a similar way to Tange and Kikutake, it can be argued that Kurokawa derived much of his Metabolist motivations from witnessing, first-hand, the devastation caused to his nation by the bombing of WW2. As in the case of his compatriots within the movement, it was these acts of destruction which caused him to become devastatingly aware of the impermanence of architecture. However, it was also these acts which brought to his awareness the notion of rebuilding, the cyclical pattern of creation and destruction which is woven so deeply into Japanese Architectural history. Indeed, in an interview with Rem Koolhaus, Kurokawahe stated [in relation to the effect on himself of the bombing of his home city of Nagoya], “I was shocked. My father said, now we must build the city from scratch, I thought, we can build a city, Unbelievable! .... I didn’t believe in architecture at the time, I thought cities and buildings would just disappear. (Koolhaus, 2011)” He later in the same interview goes on to draw deeper parallels between Buddhist ideological ideas of impermanence and the Metabolist movement, emphasising how students of Architecture before the war were “forced to be traditionalist (Koolhaus, 2011)”, in making Ise Shrine Type projects. He states, “even Tange made [one] (Koolhaus, 2011)”. This all shows that Kurokawa clearly bears many of the same motivations as his Metabolist peers, a desire to rebuild, a desire to push the bounds of Japanese architecture but also a deep and personal connection, born from experience, to Japanese cultural and Architectural history. This leads us then to his work itself, and, to begin with, his aforementioned ‘Capsule Tower’, in Tokyo.
The Nakagin capsule Tower was constructed in 1972 and comprised over 144 individual capsules. Each capsule was a self-contained unit which simply needed to be ‘plugged in’ to the main body of the building. The capsules themselves were constructed at a unit which normally produced shipping containers and, once these were complete, the whole building was erected at a rate of five to eight per day, meaning all work could be finished in thirty days (Koolhaus, 2011). In conjunction with the construction of this project Kurokawa also produced his 1969 “Capsule Declaration”, in which he laid down some of his motivations for this work. For example, article two of this declaration stated [the capsule] “stands for the emancipation of a building in relation to the ground, and heralds the era of moving architecture (Kurokawa, 1969)”, whilst article 4 provided “the capsule is intended to institute an entirely new family system centred on individuals (Kurokawa, 1969)”, and, later , in the same article, “the landscape of future cities… will be determined by the colossal aggregation of individual unit spaces (Kurokawa, 1969)”.
What Kurokawa was spelling out through this declaration was his belief that the future of urban living lay in individual, localised spaces, all coming together as one, whilst still retaining a focus on individual, personalisedpersonalized living. This was a philosophy echoed in the physical construction of his tower, as each capsule was only connected to the core by four bolts, thus making each, theoretically, individually, and infinitely removable. What Kurokawa sought to create through this work was a structure which would ‘on paper’ never need demolishing, but could instead be continually renovated. Thus, as each pod became redundant it would be replaced with another with updated equipment and living conditions (see here again his declaration, Article 1, where he states “Architecture will increasingly take on the characteristic of equipment (Kurokawa, 1969)". Kurokawa clearly believed that the equipment within a space would define its longevity, therefore, by placing the replaceable nature of this variable at the centre of his work, he sought to create a structure which, at its core, would never die.
In a similar way to Tange and Kikutake, it can be argued that Kurokawa derived much of his Metabolist motivations from witnessing, first-hand, the devastation caused to his nation by the bombing of WW2. As in the case of his compatriots within the movement, it was these acts of destruction which caused him to become devastatingly aware of the impermanence of architecture. However, it was also these acts which brought to his awareness the notion of rebuilding, the cyclical pattern of creation and destruction which is woven so deeply into Japanese Architectural history. Indeed, in an interview with Rem Koolhaus, Kurokawahe stated [in relation to the effect on himself of the bombing of his home city of Nagoya], “I was shocked. My father said, now we must build the city from scratch, I thought, we can build a city, Unbelievable! .... I didn’t believe in architecture at the time, I thought cities and buildings would just disappear. (Koolhaus, 2011)” He later in the same interview goes on to draw deeper parallels between Buddhist ideological ideas of impermanence and the Metabolist movement, emphasising how students of Architecture before the war were “forced to be traditionalist (Koolhaus, 2011)”, in making Ise Shrine Type projects. He states, “even Tange made [one] (Koolhaus, 2011)”. This all shows that Kurokawa clearly bears many of the same motivations as his Metabolist peers, a desire to rebuild, a desire to push the bounds of Japanese architecture but also a deep and personal connection, born from experience, to Japanese cultural and Architectural history. This leads us then to his work itself, and, to begin with, his aforementioned ‘Capsule Tower’, in Tokyo.
The Nakagin capsule Tower was constructed in 1972 and comprised over 144 individual capsules. Each capsule was a self-contained unit which simply needed to be ‘plugged in’ to the main body of the building. The capsules themselves were constructed at a unit which normally produced shipping containers and, once these were complete, the whole building was erected at a rate of five to eight per day, meaning all work could be finished in thirty days (Koolhaus, 2011). In conjunction with the construction of this project Kurokawa also produced his 1969 “Capsule Declaration”, in which he laid down some of his motivations for this work. For example, article two of this declaration stated [the capsule] “stands for the emancipation of a building in relation to the ground, and heralds the era of moving architecture (Kurokawa, 1969)”, whilst article 4 provided “the capsule is intended to institute an entirely new family system centred on individuals (Kurokawa, 1969)”, and, later , in the same article, “the landscape of future cities… will be determined by the colossal aggregation of individual unit spaces (Kurokawa, 1969)”.
What Kurokawa was spelling out through this declaration was his belief that the future of urban living lay in individual, localised spaces, all coming together as one, whilst still retaining a focus on individual, personalisedpersonalized living. This was a philosophy echoed in the physical construction of his tower, as each capsule was only connected to the core by four bolts, thus making each, theoretically, individually, and infinitely removable. What Kurokawa sought to create through this work was a structure which would ‘on paper’ never need demolishing, but could instead be continually renovated. Thus, as each pod became redundant it would be replaced with another with updated equipment and living conditions (see here again his declaration, Article 1, where he states “Architecture will increasingly take on the characteristic of equipment (Kurokawa, 1969)". Kurokawa clearly believed that the equipment within a space would define its longevity, therefore, by placing the replaceable nature of this variable at the centre of his work, he sought to create a structure which, at its core, would never die.