Capsule Architecture by Kisho Kurokawa

Kisho Kurokawa (1934-2007) is one of Japan’s leading architects and thinkers. Designed by Kurokawa and completed in 1972 in Ginza, Tokyo, Nakagin capsule tower building began demolition in the spring of 2022. The 140 removed capsules will be exhibited in museums overseas and used as accommodation facilities throughout the country.

At the age of 26, Kurokawa developed “Metabolism,” a theoretical movement to metabolize architecture, and in 1969 he declared the Capsule Manifesto. He had already predicted the compact and functional future of housing and the nomadic lifestyle using the Internet 50 years earlier.

The pavilion at the 1970 Osaka Expo, the 1973 villa Capsule House K, and the world’s first capsule hotel invented in 1979 are examined based on the testimony of those involved and explained with newly taken color photographs and drawings.

The book also summarizes the future development of capsule architecture and the little-known true face of Kisho Kurokawa.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Genealogy of Capsule Architecture: Homo movens’ residence
Gallery Nakagin Capsule Tower Building, Capsule House K, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama
Unraveling Kisho Kurokawa’s Capsule Architecture
Aiko Mogi, Nobuo Abe, Mikio Kurokawa, Toshihiko Suzuki
1969 Capsule Declaration
1970 Osaka Expo, Takara Beautillion, Aerial Theme Pavilion Residential Capsule
1972 Nakagin Capsule Tower Building
1973 Capsule House K
1979 Capsule Inn Osaka
2014 Nine Hours Narita Airport
2021 Cardboard Sleep Capsule
Nakagin, then
Development of the Nakagin Capsule Tower Building after its Demolition Interview with Tatsuyuki Maeda
Metabolizing Metabolism Marco Imperadori
The Next Generation of Capsule Architecture
In Conclusion: Kisho Kurokawa and I

*Japanese and English

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