The dismantled Nakagin Capsule Tower Building in Tokyo, once an iconic work of contemporary architecture, is being given new life, with one of its housing module capsules having joined a U.S. art museum collection and others planned to be utilized for various purposes.
A masterpiece of the late Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, the building was made of 140 independent housing module capsules that characterized its unique exterior design.
The building was dismantled last year, but some former residents, drawn by the historic structure representing Japan’s postwar architectural movement called metabolism, have stood up to save the capsules.
Nakagin Capsule Tower, in Tokyo’s posh Ginza shopping district, was completed in April 1972. Although the tower was built under the concept that it would stay usable almost permanently through the replacement of the housing module capsules, it had to be dismantled 50 years later due partly to aging.
In 2014, a group of residents of the building launched a preservation project. With ownership of 23 capsules, the group worked to restore the capsules’ original conditions.
After the decision was made to dismantle the building, the group received some 200 inquiries from art museums and architects in Japan and abroad interested in utilizing the capsules.
The capsules that have been handed over are being repurposed in various creative ways, as if to embody the spirit of metabolism.
One of the capsules has been added to the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Yodogawa Steel Works, a steelmaker based in Osaka, has trimmed the weight of a capsule and made it into a trailer by attaching wheels to it. It has been displayed as a “moving Nakagin capsule” across Japan.
This autumn, entertainment company Shochiku will install two capsules at a cultural promotion hub that is scheduled to open in Ginza, and use them as rental spaces for displaying artworks. Another recipient is considering decorating the inside of a capsule to make it like a traditional Japanese tearoom.
“We want to take an approach of diversity because the building was loved by a wide variety of people,” said Tatsuyuki Maeda, 56, who leads the preservation project.
Maeda said he wants to give new life to the capsules in ways that fit the current era. “I want to continue doing new things to preserve the capsules as part of history,” he said.
