“Everyone really wants to see it metabolize at some point.”

November 22, 2019 2:14 PM

Tokyo's Nakagin Capsule Tower may have a path forward. But is there a conflict between conservation and a building that was designed to grow and change?

Quick stays are no longer on Airbnb, but monthly rentals are available to foreign travelers.

Nakagin Capsule Tower previously and previouslier.

posted by chimpsonfilm (7 comments total)

Although Nakagin’s capsules were envisaged as being replaceable, with owners changing and upgrading their capsule, or even moving it to a completely different location, as they wished, the building design doesn’t quite allow for such a free-wheeling approach to city living — capsules were installed from the bottom up, meaning that moving one requires all of those above it, too.

That is somewhat of a fatal flaw in the implementation.
posted by acb at 3:35 PM on November 22, 2019 [8 favorites]

The building is one of the only built examples of Japanese metabolist architecture, and as such deserves to be preserved for its historical significance alone. Whether it "works" doesn't matter so much.
posted by hilberseimer at 6:07 PM on November 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

If you're interested AMO, Rem Koolhaas' research arm, published an exhaustive book on metabolism that's pretty great.
posted by hilberseimer at 6:11 PM on November 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

That is somewhat of a fatal flaw in the implementation.

Not if you are good at Jenga.
posted by srboisvert at 9:30 PM on November 22, 2019 [6 favorites]

Another early Metabolist masterpiece in Ginza, Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Center (Kanzo Tange; 1967), was designed to allow extra units to be "plugged in" and attached by gigantic bolts, without having to move any other units around Jenga-style.
posted by Umami Dearest at 9:33 PM on November 22, 2019

Not if you are good at Jenga.

Capsule hotel, giant robots, Jenga. Let's do this.

Also there needs to be a bunch of random screaming people in the capsules like an episode of Takeshi's Castle or mXc. In each capsule they've been given some task to accomplish like making dinner or trying to fold laundry or do chores.
posted by loquacious at 11:46 PM on November 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

Or, play Jenga.
posted by xedrik at 7:49 AM on November 24, 2019