Explained: Why Japan’s iconic Nakagin Capsule Tower is being demolished

Tatsuyuki Maeda, one of the owners of the capsule building, had told a local magazine, “Ageing has been a major issue in recent years…I was looking for a developer who would leave the building standing while repairing it.” Adding that the Covid-19 pandemic reduced buyers’ interest in the building, he said, “We thinkit is difficult for the management association to take measures against ageing, such as large-scale repairs…”

Why is the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Japan said to be iconic?

Nakagin Capsule Tower, built in 1972 by Kisho Kurokawa, is located in the Ginza district. Thirteen-storey tall, the tower comprises two buildings that contain 140 similar capsule units.

Every 10-square-metre capsule unit has a small bathroom, television, radio set, kitchen essential, telephone, furniture, other appliances and a circular window.

Kurokawa, while designing the tower, had meant for the capsules to be replaced once every 25 years but constant ownership issues and changes prevented the repairing of the tower. The towers are now generally used by people as storage or office space.

Nakagin Capsule Tower was designed to be a capsule accommodation for workers or travellers who did not want to stay in one place for long. Each capsule unit of the building was designed such that it could be detached from the core structure and replaced.

The capsule units, as designed by Kurokawa, are only attached to the core structure with four high-tension bolts so that they can be replaced every 25 years. The capsules can even be connected to each other, to change the interior if required.

Kisho Kurokawa is one of the architects who revolutionised architecture during the metabolism architecture movement in Japan.

Maeda told The Guardian last year, “We want the capsules to survive, although in a different form, to keep the metabolism idea alive…This isn’t just a place where people live and work. It inspires people to be creative and innovative.”

According to ArchDaily, an architecture news organisation, the tower has not been maintained in over 33 years, leading to tenants facing a lot of problems, such as damaged water pipes.

Docomomo International shortlisted the tower to be a world heritage of Modern Buildings and Sites in 1997.

“There is no doubt that the building was famous, but the Capsule Tower also had a certain charm that appealed to people. Everyone who stayed there was creative in his or her own way, and the community that formed was truly fascinating. I am sad to see it go, but I hope it will live on in a new form,” Maeda told BBC.

What was the Metabolism movement?

Students of Japanese architecture teacher Kenzo Tange – Kisho Kurokawa, Fumihiko Maki, Masato Otaka and Kiyonari Kikutake – brought the wave of modern metabolism architecture in the late 50s and early 60s. The wave picked up pace post the World War II destruction in Japan, when cities began to emerge and people began to migrate.

As more and more people required living spaces, the metabolism movement brought in the idea of treating buildings like human bodies, where buildings were thought to be ever-changing and their parts were replaceable to elongate life.

“I thought that architecture is not permanent art, something that is completed and fixed, but rather something that grows towards the future, is expanded upon, renovated and developed. This is the concept of metabolism (metabolise, circulate and recycle),” Kisho Kurokawa, one of the youngest Metabolism architects, had written in his book ‘From the age of machine to the age of life’.

Who was Kisho Kurokawa?

Born in 1934, Kisho Kurokawa graduated from Kyoto University after pursuing a bachelor’s course. He further pursued an architecture course from the Department of Architecture, Tokyo University and another Masters’s in architecture from the Graduate School of Architecture, Tokyo University.

His major works in Japan and abroad are the National Ethnological Museum, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Osaka International Convention Center (Grand Cube Osaka), Oita Stadium, the Japanese-German Centre of Berlin in Germany, Melbourne Central in Australia, Pacific Tower in Paris, France, the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia (which has been certified as a sustainable airport). The Art Institute of Chicago named its architecture gallery as Kisho Kurokawa Gallery of Architecture in 1994.

The awards received by Kurokawa are the Academy of Architecture, France (1986), the 48th Japan Art Academy Award, and the AIA Los Angeles Pacific Rim Award.

Kurokawa was also the first architect from Japan to become an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Union of Architects in Bulgaria.

He was awarded the Walpole Medal of Excellence and The Chicago Athenaeum Museum International Architecture Award in 2006. Kurokawa passed away in 2007 at the age of 73.

What is next for Nakagin Capsule Tower?

A few capsules from the tower will be recycled and kept at various museums in Japan and abroad. One model of the capsule room is already on display at the Museum of Modern Art, which was designed by Kurokawa.

Kisho Kurokawa architect and associates, an architecture firm started by Kurokawa, has expressed its interest in preserving the tower in a “digital space”.

The firm said in a press release, “With the dismantling of the Nakagin Capsule Tower building designed by Kisho Kurokawa, KISHO KUROKAWA architect & associates has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with LAETOLI Co., Ltd., who operates the real estate crowdfunding service “COZUCHI”, for its preservation in digital space. The two companies will collaborate and pursue to realize its preservation with the most optimal method, which reflects the concept and philosophy of Kisho Kurokawa, in digital space.”

As reported by BBC, Maeda said, “We are determined to preserve the capsules, even if the building is demolished…Dozens of capsules with relatively little aging will be recovered and rehabilitated.”

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