The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) has acquired a prefabricated capsule of the famous Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, a 20th century architectural experiment Metabolist design like The Los Angeles Times reported for the first time.
Designed by architect Kisho Kurokawa in 1972, the tower was the prime example of a cultural shift towards modular, organic construction that could be moved, migrated, and updated at will. Nakagin, initially marketed to business people visiting Tokyo for short stays, consisted of 140 pods or prefabricated living units, attached to two 13-story cores. Each capsule housed a bed, a folding desk and a cassette player.
After years of decay and neglect, the tower was demolished in 2022but not without protest – former resident Tatsuyuki Maeda, who led the Nakagin Capsule Tower preservation and restoration project, fought for years to prevent its destruction, managing to preserve 23 capsules in their entirety.
The exterior of the Nakagin Capsule Tower in 2021 Photo by Dick Thomas Johnson, via Flickr
From now on, a pod will migrate on the state side, Capsule A1302. Owned by Kurokawa and formerly occupying the top floor of the structure, the refurbished pod will include many features and electronics that were originally available to buyers in 1972 who chose to customize their pods. The SFMoMA has also acquired nine photographs from photographer Noritaka Minami’s series documenting the interiors of the building over the last 12 years of its existence. The Kurokawa capsule, which measures 8.2 feet by 13.1 feet by 8.2 feet, sports a circular window, built-in lighting and storage space.
Capsule A1302 joins other Metabolist architectural collections in the SFMoMA collection, such as works by Fumihiko Maki, the company that designed the nearby Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and other companies and collectives active in the same period, such as Supertaudio and Archigram.
The inside of a Nakagin Capsule Tower pod Photo by Kestrel, via Wikimedia Commons
The conceptual thrust of Metabolist architecture resonates with many current threads of architecture and design in 2023, in regards to attempts to build and live in a sustainable, adaptable and minimal environment. “The capsule evokes many conversations around environmental concerns, including shared infrastructure, efficient building and living, and prioritizing permanence of ideas about physical fitness,” said Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, curator of architecture and design of the museum. The architect’s journal.
In an interview with the The Los Angeles Times, she added, “I like the nomadic idea, the challenge of land ownership. What if you just had your pod and you could plug it into this or that core? »
The SFMoMA has not yet set a date for the exhibition of Capsule A1302.
