Nakagin: 140 plug n' play capsules float in metabolist tower | Tokyo
Information | History | View | Sightseeing | Video
Resembling clusters of space pods stacked 13 stories tall, the Nakagin Capsule Tower is the world’s first example of capsule architecture. When erected in 1972, tiny prefab apartments were stacked like LEGOs (by crane) around a concrete core. Attached by only 4 high-tension bolts, the capsules were designed to be plugged in and replaced when necessary. Each pod was a micro apartment measuring 4 by 2.5 meters, intended for Japanese businessmen who wanted to avoid a long commute home. Everything came built-in: a bed, a sink, a refrigerator, bathroom, folding desk and even a TV, radio and alarm clock. Built in 1972 in Tokyo’s Ginza District, the building is one of the only remaining examples of Metabolist architecture: a movement begun in the 1960s that treated cities as dynamic, evolving organisms. Designed by Kisho Kurokawa for sustainability and recycleability, the Nakagin Tower has not been maintained and now nearly 50 years after it’s construction, many of the capsules are uninhabitable. In 2007, when the building's residents voted to demolish the building. Kurokawa proposed "unplugging" the worn-out units and replacing them with newer capsules (an idea supported by the Japan Institute of Architects). Kurokawa died in late 2007. Given the high rents in the Ginza neighborhood, most of the residents continue to push to replace the entire building, but an online group has organized to save the building and its fate remains unclear. Today, a few residents like Masato Abe rent their unit outs on AirBnB. We (the faircompanies family of five) rented it for a night. In this video, Abe shows us his neighbor’s unit which is in nearly original condition and we filmed our night with the five of us sleeping in a self-contained capsule built for one. Masato's pod for rent (max. 2 people :): https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1305889 Original story: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/nagakin-140-plug-n-play-capsules-float-in-metabolist-tower/
Comments
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Voyage dans un vaisseau spatial, avec cabine individuelle...pour des vacances poétiques.
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I think this would be good for college students, or even cheap housing for lower income people. It is ample room for one person and includes most of the living necessities (minus a kitchen). Perhaps a communal kitchen and rest area could be added if this idea were to be improved upon.
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Nope! Great video, though!
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It's kinda like a boat.
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be interesting to see how they manufactured the concrete shell and the spine tower they attached to. amazing.
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AMAZING idea minus the removable capsules. that was the downfall. a solid building with mini apartments like these could fetch incredible prices in lets say new york. u could easily get $1000 a month.
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Kirsten it must have been a long night!!
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This building and these units are so amazing!! I hope it is still standing and it gets to be renewed!!
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Love the capsule tower. It captures the isolated, lonesome yet densely inhabited situation of modern urban life and copes with it in a typical Japanese minimalism. Considering the time it was built, it is really forward-looking, even still futurist today. Sadly it is going to be demolished. A landmark of modernist architecture, I would say.
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Love to see this complex repaired. If I had the green, I would buy one of the pods and bring it back to the U.S and place it on a small purchased piece of land. It is so cute! As a single person, it is like camping in a smaller travel trailer. Where is the funding site for this renovation?
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If u go to Japan I'm going here
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I liked it
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You guys travel a lot.😀
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Very futuristic and utopian concept for the time, but all similar ideas seem to not work when realized, unfortunately.
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1972... the designer was a visionary
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Great video. reminds me of my little camper that I live in for 6 months out of the year, every year for work.
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i love this.a lot!!!!
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looks like a jail cell.
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Why is there a fan inside the toilet?
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I think you could do this just a little differently and it could be great! With most desirable places to live becoming unaffordable, vertical tiny houses would be great! Sell them for say 80k US. If you need to move to a new city just take your home with you! Would have to be just a little bigger, with a sleeping loft. I would totally live in one!