This Incredible Megastructure Just Failed [Nakagin Capsule Tower]
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- čas přidán 16. 11. 2022
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The Nakagin Capsule Tower was one of the most prominent constructions from the Metabolist movement. It was designed in 1972 by Kisho Kurokawa to serve a growing population of mobile business person in Tokyo, Japan. It was composed of 140 capsules attached to concrete towers. These 100 sf units were designed to be removable and replaceable over time. However, the building stood for 50 years without a single unit being replaced. Finally, it fell into such disrepair that it needed to be demolished. This video tells the story of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, its design, construction, life, and ultimate demise.
Exhibition of photographs can be found here : mascontext.com/events/1972-ac...
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Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
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As someone who works in the building industry, I get EXTREMELY frustrated with architects who get so caught up with expressing their "vision" (with the clients' money of course) that they pay almost no attention to mundane practical matters like how the building will be repaired and maintained over it's lifespan.
I've had to deal with pipes that can only be unblocked by ripping out structural concrete, roof leaks originating from completely inaccessible places, and wiring that is impossible to pull out and replace because of this shortsightedness.
This particular architect should have foreseen the maintenance problems his design would cause. Making the capsules replaceable was a solid idea, but only being able to replace one capsule by taking out multiple others? When each capsule has a different owner? How on Earth did he think that was going to work? And leaving totally inaccessible gaps between the capsules that were open to the air?
I know this building was considered iconic, but it was a really crappy design from the viewpoint of actual usability. The fact that it was demolished after only fifty years is testament to that. Far from being iconic, it should be used as a warning to architecture students.
EDIT: Oh, and it was supposed to be economical to build as well. I read somewhere that it actually cost a lot more than a conventional concrete framed building.
Seems very much like another 'solution looking for a problem' thing that you get from dreamers with limited real world experience, who don't have to actually work through the hard parts of making their vision actually work and only see the end product.
Like the buildings in the delta area of British Columbia, which are built on silt. The ground is compacted by bringing in huge quantities of sand, which is very well and good until a seismic event causes all that compacted silt to liquefy.
for a person looking to express himself and be creative (with other people's living space...) he sure did design a dismal-looking hive of an apartment complex. Hopefully the people who were living in these high-rise cell blocks are living somewhere nicer.
Uhm I think when he designed it he didnt think it would be owned by different individuals. His vision was temporary residence for people who had to spend a short period of time there. But the suits just sold the whole thing like a normal appartment which complicated the whole thing. Originally it was supposed to be owned by a corporation and operated like a hotel or air bnb just that you would stay here for like 3 to 6 months instead of a week or shorter. And if it was operated like that this would have succeeded I believe since the corporation would close down the units that needed to be removed and do maintanance regularly just like a normal hotel.
"expressing their "vision" (with the clients' money of course) that they pay almost no attention to mundane practical matters". Sadly, i think your statement represents a lot of governments, politicians, product designers etc today.
One of the lessons I took from this is that if you want to make a truly modular living space, you need to make the system truly modular. No adjustment or replacement of any module should affect any other module. Number two is that you need to be careful of the kinds of people that you're selling modular living to, some will be down for that lifestyle until they actually live it.
I visited this building many years ago back in the 1980s. Even at that point the building was showing its age. There were some areas of the building that obviously had received more maintenance than others - some of the shared corridors between the units seemed to have received regular maintenance and then other floors not so much. Most of the units that were available to see though were well maintained. If you ever saw the movie 5th element - the inside of one capsule gave me a feeling like Corbin's apartment. :)
The ideas of the Metabolists and the Nakagin Capsule Tower may actually extend farther than we realize. In the "Dream Park" series of novels by Larry Niven & Steven Barnes, the main protagonist has his entire apartment picked up & moved to where he needs to work for any extended period of time -- it's a self-contained capsule, one of many in general use. Some modern cruise ships are built with cabins that literally slide into the framework of the ship's superstructure like drawers, and they can be slid back our & replaced with updated versions when the ship is periodically modernized. In Walt Disney World, the Contemporary Resort (the big A-shaped concrete building that has the monorails run through it) is basically a large framework that had "drawers" slid into place, each being a fully complete guest room (originally built by United States Steel) with the idea that the hotel could more easily be updated by sliding out rooms to replace them with newer versions... a method of construction that promotional films of the time said would likely expand to many other projects around the nation & the world.
Some people who need to move frequently for their job(think extractive industries) pretty much live in a trailer home or RV so they can do exactly what you described.
Metablists...
I see wooden stick-built condos four or even five stories high. With only a little steel skeleton. Except in urban cores you can't beat that cost savings.
I was thinking the interior of one of those modules looked a lot like Corbin Dallas' apartment in The Fifth Element.
Dystopian nightmare … think they won’t drill your capsule closed if they think you have Covid? Or don’t like your politics? Or think you’ve committed a hate crime or thought crime? This crap gives me nightmares.
I'm glad they saved a few of the capsules, if there was a way to remove just one capsule and people could actually get new ones commissioned and put up I wonder how long it could have lasted.
not too much longer as the cores were also in shambles, with the water pipes being unrepairable and all
@@izanefe4231 true but I think they meant (had it been maintained from the start)
ones*
it needed some more practical engineering IMO, with thought given to the eventual replacement of infrastructure over time. I've been in the building trades for decades now, I am frequently having to go back into a home after 20 to 30 years to replace the plumbing, hvac and wiring, often requiring a complete interior tear down to the studs.
100 SQFT(9 square meters), and about 18 cubic meters interior. is also just a bit too tiny; Though I have made and lived in habitable quarters on less, it doesn't really become comfortable until it hits about 33 cubic meters; say with a loft configuration. IMO, they needed to be just a bit bigger than this.
@@davidconner-shover51 it is too bad that despite the fascinating idea of bio-based cities, the architect wasn't able to make each cell truly replaceable. Kind of makes the actual life of the building never start in the first place and undercuts the idea. I hope they can do something interesting with this kind of modular setup in the future.
It sounds like some of it's issues, once they were diagnosed, could have been addressed. If you were redesigning, pretty clearly you'd want to make it so each capsule could be replaced individually. You'd want some sort of condo fee to maintain the utilities and core structure. I think you'd want some sort of gasket between the modules so that they weren't exposed to the elements on all sides. A gasket could have created some insulation value. Maybe tighter tolerances? Have tracks to slide them in on or something- when it's time to replace a unit you slide it out. To line up the new unit you put little extenders on the track to line it up, and slide it in?
I see a contradiction (tension?) between removable/serviceable "capsules" and the "core"permanent cast in concrete service infrastructure they depend on.
In many ways it's like having water sewer and gas pipes laid vertically, instead of underground.
A great deal of the city infrastructure is invisible, buried "out of sight out of mind". Houses are demolished and built above services without being subject to them.
Would you buy and install a new shinny state of the art capsule with the latests wifi and tech... onto a rotten core with leaky pipes? But that is what we do with new housing over victorian (or roman) sewers.
I suggest the conversation should define what is meant to be permanent (think the Roman aqueducts) and what is meant to be replaceable.
Respectfully.
The Cores should last vastly longer than the capsules, part of the issue here is that the whole thing was designed with "Remove Capsules, Perform Maintenance" in mind; so without the routine cycling of the capsules, the building's infrastructure failed.
@@mxspokes which isn't bright. Removing 20+ capsules to replace *one* pipe is not really practicable.
It would mean displacing any residents who lived in the effected capsules for the entire duration. Or, alternatively, it would mean having to wait until the next regular changing of capsules.
Then there's the target resident demographic. Most people still live in something resembling the traditional family unit, not as single adults.
There are zero concessions to the home based social activities they're prone to.
Or really any activity other than sleeping.
The metabolists suffered from the same lack of understanding of reality & human behavior as the brutalists & other postmodern architectural schools.
When you build something you need to cater it to the PEOPLE who use it, not YOUR IDEAL of those people's needs.
People want their homes to have work & hobby spaces. And private bathing quarters. They also want to be able to modify their personal space as needed/"needed". Even in Japan,that's why you can still move the interior walls of traditional Japanese homes.
Seriously, dipwads have been trying for a century and keep failing because *you can't engineer a functioning organic society*
Not through architecture, school or media. It always fails or has a dramatic snap back/collapse
@@nicholashodges201 bullshit. There are a LOT of single people who could buy this and then save money for house or real flat later
@@ricardokowalski1579 Who said core has to be rotten? Better maintenance access and the core could last forever. This one failed because they stupidly encased them, a shaft allowing easy repair and replacement of pipes would ensure longevity for as long as you wanted - and besides, modular construction allows for easy core replacement as needed, simply detach houses, replace core, reattach, done, much more sustainable than current architecture...
I remember seeing this building a decade ago while walking through Tokyo, I wasn't aware of what the building was. I had a Japanese person tell me it was designed by an eccentric architect, but they didn't explain why it was built the way it was. Turns out it was even more interesting than I realized; a shame I wasn't able to go inside and see how it was built... but it was peoples' homes afterall.
If it was 1972 and I were a young salaryman, I know for sure I'd have an application in at the Nakagin Tower. When I learned about this building and its impending demise it was literally my introduction to the metabolist school of architechture. I was at once astounded at its audacity and saddened by its planned demolition. It is reassuring to learn that the design and 3-D model are preserved for future study and some original capsules still exist. The problems that arose after its construction were not insurmountable even if the architects could not foresee them in the planning phase. Even scaled down so there were, for instance, less people or families affected by capsule replacement and, as others have suggested, making it so individual capsules could be removed without having to disrupt the ones around it would go a long way toward making a metabolist system like this succeed. Hats off to Kisho Kurokawa and his colleagues for pushing the envelope-- I can only hope a new generation of neo-metabolist architects will carry their vision forward.
Good video! This concept is being used for pre-fab bathroom modules for hospitals and hotels. Recently toured a local hospital under construction and the contractor said he was surprised at how well it worked and it saved lots of time and money.
For sure! Thanks for the added context.
It reminds me of the way cruise ships are built: the cabins are all built out in a factory, and then slid into place on the ship. I imagine is could be easy enough to use one of them cabin modules as a tiny home.
The only thing about this, at least for us in Germany is that the capsule baths are build in eastern Europe by people that should be payed way better for the work they are doing. So even if it's practical and safes a lot of time in the building process it has its downsides if you want to have an ethical concept.
Pre-fab bathroom modules go away back . Buckminster Fuller was showing a stamped stainless steel bathroom in his 1940 patent.
Yeah i love watching the cranes installing whole bathrooms 30 stories up in the air when they were building a hotel next to my office
Great video on a really interesting building. Seems like distributed ownership was a huge factor in the decline of the building. A more centralized body would have easily been able to ensure the necessary repairs, but this would create all the usually problems of rent-hikes and forced evictions that happens from that sort of body.
Well, that's where the co-op business model fails when it comes to real estate. Would rent hikes and 3-day notices happen more frequently? yes. Would the quality of life be improved overall for the capable residents? yes. The point is that there are always trade-offs and balancing acts that need to be performed, not just in the physical realm, but also in the financial and legal realms as well.
Maybe if the units were rented instead of sold it would have been more sustainable for everyone.
@@shanekeenaNYC capable residents? Are realtors doing eugenics now?
@@bricknolty5478 To some degree, yes, as a holdover from the redlining and blockbusting policies of the Jim Crow era, at least in the United States. We are still trying to level the playing field in that regard, and trying to extract strength from weakness. However, it's taking an extremely long time to do so. Getting rid of affirmative action, legacy admissions to college, and other bad policies will be steps in the right direction towards empowering residents to be able to handle these kinds of residential mechanics.
In a nutshell, real estate agents are trying to fight previous eugenics with reverse-engineered, you guessed it, eugenics.
@@shanekeenaNYC not exactly a good game plan, huh?
So, unmapped legal (ownership) and logistical (repairs) needs are what did it in. Fascinating chapter to the growing tiny-living movement. Thank you.
These standard pre-constructed units are now the way almost all cruise-ship staterooms and crew cabins are built. Having both traveled and worked on these ships, I can vouch to finding them quite comfortable accommodation. The key in my view is to make them very comfortable so that the limited space is less oppressive.
Referenced same comment as well! Thx!
Two things that came to me.
1) The idea of temporary and changeable structures is very Japanese, especially since the Japanese often build homes to only last 30 years or so.
2) The top down view of a capsule reminded me of Corbin Dallas' apartment in Fifth Element, with certain elements that could be hidden.
I don't know the name of the "hidden elements" design theme but I think that was a common idea at the time. I'm sure the people who made Fifth Element were aware of it.
Your point (1) really looms large for me, too, and could support its own video (or series of them). Expectations around shorter building lifespans are also aided considerably by Japan's underlying zoning/land use framework, which is far more supple (metabolistic) than, say, the Euclidean model that is the norm in the US.
Yeah, Fifth Element was exactly what came to my mind, when I saw this.
Yes, this reminded me of Corbin's apartment, too.
I think it is an East Asian thing, because in Korea they have similar building, lasting not for long.
Sad to see it go, but it was really in terrible shape. I used to live next to another of the metabolism buildings, known as Gunkan (or battleship) Building, it was abandoned for many years, but it actually got restored instead and used as shared accomodation, the "capsules" for that building are much larger similar to a shipping container. The building itself is not as massive, maybe 12 stories tall and with 4 capsules per level or somethign. Check it out! =)
now THAT is beautiful. Hopefully it will actually last.
The tower might have failed in it's original goal, but it did succeed in teaching people just a little more about what things work and what don't. The idea of replaceable pods could still work, if the replacement of a pod was minimally disruptive to surrounding residents. We also learned that even with the best of intentions, maintenance is something humans inevitably fall behind on.
This was a beautiful and unique structure that really showed a very Japanese sensability. I've see it so many times in movies, video games and it really was striking. Glad some was saved and the AR scans were done, its such a cool building.
Sounds like the only issue was that it wasn't designed so that individual units could be serviced by themselves.
Or that it was a condo building and not an apartment building
They were ahead of their time. Some modern buildings don't last 10 years, so 50 years is pretty good. I've seen a TED talk by Moshe Safdie using similar principles, except his units were stacked higgledy-piggledy so that air can flow between the units. His building still stands today and has been granted heritage status.
I'm a little suspicious of the "tiny house" movement - I think humans need enough space to "breathe" and some tiny houses I think are too small (I am slightly claustrophobic)... I think I prefer the concept of a compact rather than a tiny house. I do appreciate the space saving & multi-purpose aspect of their design.
I also like the idea of public, communal & private space. As our population has reached the 8 billion mark I think it's important that residents have access to communal space (and private space) away from the "hordes" but being able to share amenities that are quite costly for private ownership & maintenance etc. For this reason I quite like the courtyard apartment concept based on the Moroccan riaad-style houses.
With some tweaking, the addition of greenary & garden space (rooftop gardens?) as communal space - for water collection & management, renewable energy tech, food garden allotments & space for kids to play safely - I think the concept is still valid.
I saw another TED talk by Kent Larsen on apartments with movable walls so living space can be adjusted as needed.
Thanks for this interesting video.
You buy a cuck shed in the cuck tower you better enjoy it
I'm glad i was able to see this building in person years back. It was ahead of it's time and definitely made leaps for future sustainability and modular design.
fabulous building, your video captured so much in such an easy way to understand and appreciate, subscribed!
That building like many of these 5 over 1 buildings you see in America are terrible for dealing with Rainwater, it easily gets trapped in all the nooks and crannies, there is a reason why most buildings have continuous walls on the outside with openings only for windows. Also each capsule had so many exposed sides, bad for heating and ac,
I was 'lucky' enough to make a point of seeing the Nakagin back in 2017. Seeing this in various architectural books I had to make the 'pilgrimage' and photographed it (both at day and night). I was already aware that the building's days were numbered and even as far back as the late 2000's there was already discussion about the building's future. Whether it was feasible to preserve it as it was a historic example of a bold experimental piece of architecture or demolish it due to its increasing maintenance costs and deteriorating state. Also it stands on valuable real estate. (land values in Tokyo being very high & it is in a central location) I did enter the reception of the building but the staff there did remind me (with some communication barriers) it was a private building and I wasn't allowed in. I did joke with them that they should charge admission for the curious then they could raise money for its upkeep or restoration. It would be ideal student accommodation or a place to stay in Tokyo for budget conscious self catering holiday makers/vacationers but maybe not as practical as permanent long term homes as it had seemed to have ended up. As explained here: in contrary to the architect's original vision of servicing or replacing individual pods over time when they required it thus ensuring the tower's long term survival, this was to prove rather impractical for the fact that surrounding pods would need to be removed first to get to the ones due for replacement. However. the concept of modular housing has/is actually been used today to create housing at speed or alleviate housing shortage by using similar methods (but not necessarily replacing individual home units in a given building) to construct homes quickly (and thus cutting costs) with similar pre built units off site and transportable to the location where they are quickly assembled and faced in a more amiable brick façade or some other form of cladding or curtain walling to provide practical homes at more affordable rates but meet housing need where house prices are particularly high (like London!) The legacy of Nakagin will live on!
Thank you for this information, I was not aware of this buildings existence.
I was in high school in the seventies, one of our assignments was to design things we thought would exist in the 2000's. A highrise building with removable pods was one of the things I thought might happen. I'm glad it was tried, but not surprised it failed.
Wow, great video, well researched and presented. Thank you.
This came around just in time! Im basing my master thesis (MBarch Barcelona) around the Metabolist movement and Nakagin being the prime example of it. I had no idea there was a virtual recreation and that there's plans and details about it. Really useful video!
Hey there, I'm in the same boat albeit I'm skirting around this project to talk about a similar project built at a very similar time, Cedric Prices Inter-action. I'd be really interested in seeing your thesis. You should drop a link on here when it's done, maybe take my email or something
@@Jack0a10 Heya! Pretty cool to see other fellow students. That building by Cedric Price is new to me, so ill be sure to give it a check. Might help me in a similar way Nakagin does for you. Ill be happy to share my thesis in a link when I get to it (I'm still on research process so it might take a long while).
This building is by all definitions an experiment. It's important to keep the conversation going now that we understand where the experiment failed
I don't think the experiment "failed" since we did record the data, lessons were learned.
It was never meant to be permanent, and the capsules were indeed relatively easy to remove.
Respectfully
@@ricardokowalski1579 this experiment did fail because there were several challenges and issues.
It's going to be very naive to think that it didn't fail.
Also, a lot can be learned from a failure. But deluding oneself that there was no failure, implies that the experiment is a success and simply disassociation from reality.
@@h.cedric8157 Those were easy to solve, most of the working things around you faced harder challenges. It's just that nobody was interested in the idea of affordable housing. Ability to move your house is also very threatening to the government.
@@johnjack3578 well if nobody was interested, then how come modularity in construction in general was adapted soon afterwards? That now goes against your own opinion that it wasn't a failure...
And i know I'm centrist libertarian, but what has government have to do with this Japanese project?
@@h.cedric8157 What modularity in construction? We don't have movable, modular homes built anywhere.
Regarding your other question. Governments of different countries generally dislike the idea of common people being able to move freely and not being tied to one place as much as possible, this is why this project never gained any support.
Hello Stewart, Great history of Nakagin Capsule Tower! Having seen the tower in person while visiting Tokyo, I was fascinated about it's origin and design. When passing by on the freeway, I always marveled about how is was technically constructed. Thank you for the research and history of this memorable structure. New Subscriber!! 🤓
Thanks for posting the info on the photography collection!! I live in Old Town (by the Newberry Library) so the exhibition won't be too far! The Nakagin tower was always such a great/ interesting concept for architecture, I'd love to see the photos! 😄 I hope the Museum of Science and Industry will acquire a capsule for exhibition too!
Just came across the channel, and I like your way of presenting the topics! Definitely will subscribe! 💜☺️
I visited the tower in 2016. It was covered with angry paper signs warning to stay away, so I did of course... but I so wish I could have gone inside. The core design is so fascinating the way the stairs spiral around, and how the elevators don't stop on every "floor".
It is a shame it's gone, it would be neat to see someone try and do this again someday.
I think if it is tried again then they need to design it so you can remove individual capsules. I would design some sort of locking lug system to hold them onto the core, rather than bolts, and a special crane, built onto the core itself, that slides between the capsules and locks and unlocks the lugs to slide them in or out.
I think such a system could work well if you could overcome the engineering hurdles. You could also design some capsules with openings on the sides that if placed next to each other would form multi-unit dwellings.
The design should of been like a drawer that we opened on the sliding type mechanism.
@@tinachen9728 Any mechanism that has moving parts would introduce additional challenges and problems to its maintenance and use. It's a valid idea nonetheless; perhaps a variation of it would work.
I find it a bit surprising they designed this without using the locking lug system we use for shipping containers. They already had that
Check out Moxy hotels (by IKEA) it's similar using capsules that are pre-made and lifted in place by crane.
I wish I could've visited it before it got demolished... Seeing videos or a single capsule in a museum just isn't the same. It's a real shame to lose such an interesting part of architectural history 😔
The impermanence was part behind the organic idea it was just not thought that someone just tramples over the field - but we could see it as a invitation to evolve a new generation of capsule / host it still solves a problem that is pretty much there, it's an opportunity to evolve.
There are many capsule hotels in Japan you could visit.
there is a VRChat world of this building! i'd link it if i remembered what it was, but im sure that it can be found!
Dotn worry, eventually you'll live in one too
reminds me of cube city at arcosanti, arizona
Always, always, always learn something from your episodes. Thanks!!! (The use of prefabrication either of entire dwelling units or major components like exterior walls consumes much of the architectural conversation bandwidth, seeing the real world results--at fifty years, of just such an experiment was wonderful to watch and ponder.)
It's a huge relief to know that the building has in some senses been saved, having capsules preserved is so important, particularly given the original electronic features that some of the capsules retained.
3:00 * get out of my head, get out of my head *
As someone who is immensely interested in Japanese architecture and has read and watched a lot of analyses about the capsule tower and the Metabolists, this is easily one of the best overviews I have seen. The basic idea of the city as constantly fluid and organic has proved influential, and it is much more applicable for our eco-conscious age than the old Corbusier idea of the city as a sort of machine, but the capsule tower itself was an imperfect, if ambitious, manifestation of that idea.
Solid comment.
Hell yea fellow weeb
just reminds me of cube city at arcosanti.
the capsule idea visibly embodies the individual space where most structures are finished so individual spaces aren't distinguishable. we like it because it looks like a group of living things. it reminds us of our space in a community.
Very interesting. I enjoyed your commentary. Thank you.
Subscribed. 😊
Excellent presentation, thank you.
It would be nice to have more buildings used green spaces like native plants or trees to help cool the area and clean the air.
I agree, and that is also a movement now with some successes, though if done wrong or built too impractically it ends up failing disastrously like a couple of towers that were built in China... One is astronomically expensive, hard to maintain, and sits mostly empty as a result, and another is also mostly empty and the outdoor planters on the terraces and balconies became overgrown and also started trapping water leading to an explosion in mosquito populations in it's neighborhood. So it's def something that comes with a lot of design challenges.
@@ANPC-pi9vu yep california naberhood trees like 89% topped and branches cut becoming mager maintenance trees.
We just need to let trees be trees and stop planting easily invasive plants in these cities too.
Research Singapore. They do a lot of cutting edge stuff due to their size.
Impressive. It's a shame it could not be kept in good shape. Thank you for sharing.
I am astounded at the level of quality and information in this video of my favourite topic in the whole world. Thank you!
I’ve seen several videos on this building including _Abroad in Japan_ and _Kirtsten Dirksen_ but your piece has covered new dimensions.
This made me think of Habitat 67 in Montreal, QC, Canada. Such an iconic building in Canada, and still actively lived in. It's got some controversy and is getting expensive now that it's 50+ years old, but it's a tourist attraction and those living there long term adore it. I saw it back in 2013 while driving past and haven't forgotten it. It also makes me think of Alt hotels, where the rooms are all pre-made modules.
The architect got carried away by the concept and its visual appeal but forgot about the mundane plumbing and maintenance. I loved the Idea and think that it could be made to work especially today.Thank you Profesor.
They were too preoccupied with whether they could, to ask whether they should.
No he actually planned for maintenance as well, that's part of the reason the capsules were so easy to remove. He just failed to realize that if you construct a building based on the properties of what is essentially skin cells, you absolutely have to remember that skin cells just shrivel up and fall off to be replaced from beneath when they are used up.
To maintain the towers would have been super easy if they had been able to follow the specifications and just replace the whole complement of capsules periodically. So it wasn't so much the design that failed as it was implemented for the wrong purpose.
If this had been an office tower owned by a few large companies or a single entity, it would have been fine, but people don't want to have their home torn down for days or weeks just to fix a leak in their neighbor's home.
@@Reddotzebra the problem was the capsules were property, and that option should *never* have been on the table.
This is AWESOME!!! Great work by a Visionary architect and genius!!
A lot to learn from this experiment for sure. Capsule Hotels although not quite the same, I see some potential in all the lessons learned.
Can you imagine the cooling and heating costs of a building with this surface area!!!
I hadn't thought of that. Interesting point.
Yes that thought did enter my mind, the surface area is massive.
Oh, this explained a lot. I had to do maintenance inspections on a concrete modular building built in the 1970s in Cincinnati. The one in Cincinnati looked like any other building. The older inspectors told me about how the units were lifted into place. The ceiling heights probably just met the code and were claustrophobic even though they were significantly larger than the ones in Tokyo. They felt undersized because they were to fit on flatbed trucks. There was probably a weight issue for the cranes then, too, that limited size. Because they used concrete, pipes were exposed and low. It was warehousing for poor people.
@@youtubewantstosilenceme8905 we're 5'9" now in the US and they are 5'7" believe it or not.
This is a good summary of the building's purpose, design, and history. I learned about the tower's existence about six months ago, and I absolutely love the concept. One of those units would be perfect for me if I downsized my stuff, and funnily enough, two units would be perfect (the second would mostly be storage and more of an artistic creation space than a living space).
I liked the tower concept and design so much I attempted to make something similar in Sims 4, and it's on the gallery under the title of Nakasim Capsule Tower. Sadly, Sims 4 only lets you create four stories worth of floors, but I did what I could within the limits of the lot size and the size I chose for the core area with the stairs. The capsules are empty for maximum customization, and I keep meaning to try furnishing the building to put into play myself, but other distractions have been more distracting. XD
I bet the sound insulation between units must be incredible.
Excellent video Stewart I’ve long been fascinated by the Nakagin towers. I thought it was such an audacious experiment. I was saddened when they decided to take it down but I guess it boiled down largely to economics;the cost of restoration balanced with the value of Tokyo real estate. Can’t wait to see the virtual walk through.
In reality did the cells actually enforce rigidity. A design where you could merge and split apartments or rearrange interior walls would have been much more organic.
This building fascinates me. I love Brutalist architecture in general - yes, I know I’m weird - so the ultra-modern concrete look of this building has always appealed to me. I’d love to live in something like this - but only in something that had more space in individual units. I’m not a tiny-house kind of guy.
Back in the ‘70s when I was in elementary school, I became obsessed with Disney’s Contemporary Hotel at Walt Disney World. Each of the rooms in the "tower" building was a pre-fabricated pod that was fitted out before being lifted by a crane and slid into place. The idea was that the rooms could be removed and replaced when renovations or upgrades were needed. Unfortunately, they discovered almost immediately that the units settled into place and would not be easy to remove in the future. Thus, they’ve never been replaced.
Still, I loved the over-scaled, concrete look of the structure. I loved the monorail that runs through the building, providing a transportation hub inside the hotel. I loved the gigantic public gathering spaces. I loved the corridors that were open to the gigantic public spaces. I still love it and have stayed there many times. I’ve even bought Disney’s version of a timeshare at the Contemporary Resort, so I get to stay there several weeks each year if I choose to. I love just hanging out on the Grand Canyon Concourse, looking up at the vastness of the space and admiring that 1970s modernist/brutalist vibe.
This was NOT the first large building built using modules. The Palacio del Rio in San Antonio, TX, was built in 1968. It is a Hilton hotel and you can stay there. It’s very nice and convenient to the Riverwalk and downtown attractions.
Agreed. My friends father worked for HB Zachary and was one of the guys responsible for construction.
The contemporary resort at Disney world was also built in a modular fashion, with as steel structure built first with then rooms just slid in, this was 1971
I love the multiple modes of preservation & memorializing that were used even tho total physical preservation wasn’t an option-digital scanning/re-creation, artistic interpretation, material examples...what a fascinating conception-to-afterlife story. This all feels like it should be the loving subject of a Tashen tome someday.
3:00 among us
lmao
my thought exactly
I was wondering why they scared me…
All this information was new to me, and fascinating.
Wow! I think that if they had made the capsules in a way that you could individually replace them, without having to disturb other capsules around it, it would have allowed people to upgrade to new capsules more easily. That could have helped avoid the state of disrepair of the capsules that eventually led to the failure of the project.
It would be fascinating to see a building with all kinds of different pods attached to it, each suited to the needs of its inhabitants. Maybe you could allow the pods to be connected to each-other directly as well, allowing for apartments with a living room a kitchen and a bedroom for example (3 pods connected together, horizontally, vertically or a mix of the two). If you did that even families could live in the building if they rented adjacent pods and connected them. Really inspiring stuff I hope this idea gets picked up again as I would love to live in such a place!
Maybe the analogy of "living" architecture was taken too literally by their creators originally. But it's undeniable that they were pioneers and left a legacy that resounds today with more practical, real-life technologies in architecture. So glad to know that the authorities took the effort to preserve this tower! Thanks for the video
This idea was proposed a long before 1970s, in Russian Empire, by Velimir Khlebnikov. He invisioned a city, constructed like several interconnected bridges, with streets high above ground. This structure contains all communications and life supports. And people lived in special living cells, which can be installed on this bridges. This cells can be transported by railroads or ships, so people can travel in another city right inside theyr homes.
Soviet architector Georgy Krutikov in 1928 proposed advanced version of this concept - living cells was airplanes, so people can easily change theyr living place. And municipal core was an very tall vertical structures with paraboloid shape, suspended in the air with baloons, anchored on the ground with a large subterranian industrial complexes.
Later in 1958 a french architector Iona Freedman proposed his "Dimensional City", where a munitipal core for living cells was a 3D metallic grid over landscape, old cities or even a seas.
This reminds me very much to habitat 67 in Montreal. Another modular building designed by renowned Moshe Safdie. Although Habitat has survived, it failed to accomplish its goal which was to supply the world with inexpensive housing with private outdoor access. Albeit I love Habitat 67 and is still my favourite building in Montreal.
CBC has an interview with Safdie from a couple months ago, good listen, I think the inspiration from habitat 67 is still alive, problem is expensive housing is just more profitable.
The issue is architects have dreams which are bigger than their brains. Don't get me wrong, they are needed, they make things pretty.
But issues like the housing crisis should be solved by economists and solutions designed by engineers. Bring in the architects to make it look pretty at the end, but letting someone who's education is basically art make large scale decisions is a bad idea.
@@TheOwenMajor Yeah but these buildings were not designed to address a housing crisis like we’re seeing today, they were merely experiments. Like you said, there has to be a political will. The rest will fall into place. We can build beautiful inexpensive buildings. Totally doable.
What a video, ive seen Chris abroads video but this one was more in-depth, i like it!
Great video. Thanks
Never had I watched a video this early :D
same here :D
Hey Stewart, perfectly timed video for me , just starting my masters thesis project at KSA. It's about a very similar building in every respect. Cedric Prices Inter-action. Its similar to the FUN PALACE but this was one of only two of his built structures. It was demolished in 2002 and I'll be trying to archive the building similarly to how Kisho Kurokawa's scheme had been archived, albeit posthumously. I hope to be able to share this and build awareness of this project.
Send me a message if you'd be interested in seeing it!
Great overview.
History is riddled with interesting concepts that seemed to work very well on the drawing board...but not so well in real life.
Thank you Stewart for this amazing video. I really do think capsule dwelling isn't a bad idea and it can do wonders in disaster hit areas. Guess there's more research and experimentation that needs to be done. Thank you again!
Sounds awful. No matter how you slice, dice, or sell it, it will always end up as a place to stuff the poor into.
It is the embodiment of an idea, like a concept car. It was never likely to be a pattern for future projects. To foreigners, it is one of the most iconic buildings in Japan and should have been preserved as a heritage site.
This is so incredibly ahead of it’s time it’s crazy that we still aren’t quite there yet
Stewart, you have created a CZcams channel that is impressive and most excellent.
oh man it's gone? that building was really cool, and really had it's own "accent" so to speak. damn.
edit: kept watching and now it really makes sense. what a shame that the design wasn't as practical as it was forward thinking.
I wish the concept for this building and lifestyle had been more successful. I always think of it along side Habitat 67 which proved more successful. Both are based on unitized construction methods; however, Habitat 67 provided more flexibility in how individual units could be configured and lived in.
Failed? No. It was loved. It was well visited. We’re talking about it now. Buildings learn about us and we learn about them. If anything, it showed that the capsules needed to be individually removed, rather than unstacked.
If not for rising land values and a lack of a shared vision for things such as repair, it would still be around.
It was amazing. Metabolism is about living and changed. Nakagin lived, changed and died. I’d say it was a success.
I didn't expect the video to be that interesting!
Prof. Hicks -- you are SO GOOD at presenting these topics! I remember seeing footage of this revolutionary construction style, maybe 35 years ago. It seems that the intellectual architect forgot to talk to plumbers and electricians to check maintenance practicality. This reminds me of the idealistic high rise and city plans in post-war Europe which resulted in huge slums. Perhaps a more linear assembly would have endured more successfully. Thanks for showing the interiors and design flaws of such a forward-thinking building. I appreciate your educational content!
Thank you thank you! Plumbing was certainly an issue, very idealistic.
@@stewarthicks You know, an episode or two on "clever" designs which failed due to ignoring practical issues would be pretty fun! Keep up the good work!
One day I'd like one of those architects actually living in such a building.....strangely they usually live in large house, villa's or mansions with ample outside space or gardens....remarkable!
So do the shareholders that fund these prison cells.
Bill Gates will still fly his private jets but wants us to use bicycles
I actually hate both wooden houses, huge glass panels and huge gardens, it makes me think Floyd/Trayvon could just come and destroy me at any minute.
@@Sun_Simp have as tiny a dwelling as you choose, as for me, I'm trying to grow myself some crops.
Good Stuff...Well done!!!
They look like giant dryers from far away! But I think these are absolutely awesome and want to see one!
Ths Nakagin capsule tower is perhaps one of the most fascinating designs of living spaces to me. I remember first learning of it in an architecture class I think two years ago (?) and it's just so cool looking. I always wanted to go there one day but then I learned that it was being disassembled, which is definitely quite sad. Although I'm not sure how viable a building like this is for living designs looking at how capsule hotels seem to be getting more popular outside of Asia it seems Kurokawa's concept might work.
Having watched Nami live in her tiny apartment, I can see how these capsules fit into Japanese housing history. I hope this experiment can be repeated, it did work despite not having the expected upkeep!
I hope they knock it down and forget it forever! We don’t need to be living in concrete prison cells.
@@thejollysloth5743 Ignorant lol
Not everyone has your specific needs, some people are fine with very little.
@@zion6680 The problem is where this sensibility leads. If some people are fine with very little it's not a leap for states to mandate very little for the people. You already see it with various mandates based around a whole slew of austerity policies, either financial or "green". This sort of place is a blueprint for socialized housing that resembles the very worst sort of dystopian fiction.
@@joseph1150 Okay that's very fair sir, I think there's a valid concern there hehe. Ignorance lurks around the corner for everyone xD
@@joseph1150 While that's true, it also needs to be understood that many current regulations and building codes essentially disallow the density for people who already have little to afford a place to live at all. Which has the knock on effect of making everyplace more expensive for everyone as people are forced to bid on what places are available.
Obviously 'capsules' are not a solution. But this doesn't need some draconian architectural regime to fix. It just requires regulations that encourage cities to go through the normal densification and diversification that traditionally occurred in large urban areas, rather than trying to desperately keep everything in a suburban stasis.
When I first started my architectural studies I fell in love with metabolist design trends, it's sad to see the one remaining bastion of the architecture style finally falling, but maybe i'll get the chance to visit one of the capsules if it visits a local museum, or I might just build a replica in revit, and turn it into my VR house, with the 3d scans being available that'll be fun, and somewhat easy.
Did you mean concept? Because the design was faulty.
The main fault, is maintenance.
Is the same fault I see in the actual cities. All buildings need to be connected at the water and electrical grid, eventually gas and data. And mostly these comes underground. So, when needs to be replaced, the streets will be full of trenches. Why not make these underground arteries serviceable from inside? My city boomed in the 60s. And in half a century I have seen it being dug up so many times.
Very inspiring. At 75 years old with decreasing needs of space, it has made me think about it.
I once saw a dream about my parents building where they live in and apartment being almost like that suddenly. A cube. It also started to wobble. I didn't know my dream was 'realistic' in a way...
As a student, i lived in a huge complex, that was most likely inspired by this philosophy. It was not assembled from single capsules, but the living units were capsules in themselves. Built in the 70s. So i can imagine, how it must have been, living in that building. 😄
Really enjoy your channel.
Wow, I'm looking at these capsules and thought, "I've lived in Army Barracks that were bigger than these things." Of course, in Army barracks, we were bunked two to a room, but I still feel like I had more floor area than what's in these capsules.
And having lived in Army barracks, I feel like you need three things for a minimal, single occupancy capsule: a sleeping area, a bath area, and a kitchen/eating area (a work area can be worked in as part of one of those three). These capsules only had two of them, lacking only the kitchen/eating area. Given that these are civilian quarters, I feel like the lack of kitchen makes for a captive customer base for whatever restaurant or food court is at the base of the core building.
Interesting video as always! I always find new experimental ideas in architecture just so cool. But watching this, it made me wonder if new highly experimental types of buildings are better tried in buildings not meant as dwellings. So many large public housing projects, especially in the 60's and 70's were won by futuristic often brutalist architecture bids with no input from the future residents as to what they actually wanted to live in. When asked later what they would like rather than experimental "streets in the sky", hard concrete, or futuristic styles, the majority say they prefer a front porch, a bit of yard, some tees, cozy styles, etc. It would be interesting maybe to have a video on this topic. Were we using the least fortunate people to experiment on with our grand visions? With that argument I don't know of any architects who actually lived in their great futuristic designed mega buildings. If as seems pretty clear, the mass of the public prefers the comfort of the familiar and more traditional styles/layouts, has that contributed to fact that so many of these cool structures have been later torn down (some notable exception I can think of in London and Toronto later became appreciated... but by more upscale professionals). It's an interesting thought to me as I love experimentation and the new, but I too don't choose to live in one of those structures which makes me wonder if I am a hypocrite? Is experimental and visionary architecture thus better tested on a small scale with dwellings and/or with non-dwelling functions first where they might be better appreciated and thus maybe we are less likely to lose them?
I was just thinking the same - these are ‘architect’ buildings, not human ones. To be honest, I would say they’re mostly a failure. Looking cool and futuristic at the time they’re built is all very well, but the eventual problems outweigh that by a lot. 1960s ‘architectural utopia’ tower blocks the world over have the same issues - living spaces too small, poorly ventilated and heated, issues with concrete/structure failing, residential flight turning the area into a slum with high crime, etc. Also, they usually age poorly aesthetically-speaking. Only a few designs have a timeless quality - I would include this one, and some of the brutalist places in London and elsewhere, although the best ones tend to be non-residential, as you allude to.
Also, it’s funny how the actual architects themselves almost never live in these types of buildings., and usually live in some amazing detached, Mies van der Rohe thing on a tree-lined hillside, the complete opposite to these ‘resident boxes’ that they think everyone else should live in. Hmm.
@@vooveks strawman, this was never designed as permanent housing.
@@tsm688 Yeah, not really - did I actually say that? No. Perhaps inadvertently implied, but again, didn’t specifically say or mean that, so ironically, it’s you making the straw man. 🙄
Yes, this particular example was designed for short term stays, but:
A) that still doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be pleasant to stay in, and these are known to have ventilation problems, for instance and
B) my point about the thousands of tower blocks and housing estates the world over that are terrible places to live is completely valid, along with my other point about how you’ll almost never find an architect living in the types of public buildings they design.
Good try though, maybe look at the wider points rather than nitpicking the small ones (and even getting that a bit wrong).
Excellent video Stewart! There's much about the basic idea that I appreciate. I prefer a "less in more" lifestyle for myself, with minimal "stuff" cluttering up my life. (Computers and the internet make this much easier.) I think the Capsule Tower could have worked well if the administrative and logistical problems were handled better, as well as basic things like a design that promoted ease of maintenance. The tight spaces between the pods are a real problem!
When I was growing up, the National Maritime Building was constructed in NYC a few blocks from my home. It was designed by Albert C. Ledner mainly to serve as housing for retired merchant marines, and it used a lot of these same ideas, including the porthole windows (for obvious reasons). It has since been used as temporary housing for teenage runaways and is now a boutique hotel.
Nakagin Capsule Tower concept reminds me of a book I've had since 1970: "Equipotential Space: Freedom in Architecture", by Renato Severino. I still have the book, although it's in storage right now so I don't have it handy to look at. In it, Severino puts forward several ideas for living spaces. The overall space is identical for each unit, with electrical and plumbing connections built in. Then he designed a variety of plug-in pods for different functions, such as kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, etc. arranged as the tenant saw fit. A couple of full-scale roughed-in prototypes were constructed on the Columbia campus, where Severino taught. So far as I know, the idea never took off, but it seems to have a lot in common with the Nakagin Capsule Tower concept.
That’s awesome. Thank you for sharing.
Excellent video.
This was a nice setup. Now it's known what must be done to improve it. Make it happen.
As an experiment, I don't think it failed at all. It looks like it provided some great lessons on what worked, what needed improvement, and how people actually used the capsules. I hope that it's inspired similar projects and given more insight into how to design modular buildings.
The idea of being able to adapt the building to its time is actually really good, but of course ideas usually work better inside of ones head
I love the look of this building very aesthetically ahead of its time
I was on a trip for work at the Karolinska institute university hospital in the capital of Sweden two days ago, and the reason I clicked on this video was that the capsule towers reminded me a lot of the Innovationen modular tower in Hagastaden which alongside its twin called the Helix is readily visible from the hotel I stayed at.
03:03 looks pretty sus if you ask me.
It reminds me of the apartment building composed of modular pieces in Montreal, Canada- constructed for Expo-'67.
Biggest flaw was not being able to remove a single capsule without having to remove several others.
It appears the architect didn't actually think that part through. In fact he didn't think a lot of it through.
Disappointingly Stewart didn't explain why that was the case. The video showed that the units didn't touch, there was zero contact, so we don't know why replacing one meant removing others temporarily. I assume it's because of accessibility of tools, mounting, harnesses and cranes, etc, but I don't know.
I remember seeing pictures of the tower, but I never knew the story around it. Thank you for the video! However, when you said FOUR BOLTS, my jaw literally dropped open. I said it several times. "FOUR BOLTS?! JUST FOUR BOLTS?!" and then you said none had ever failed in 50 years and I can honestly say I'm amazed lol. That really surprised me!
They're probably the bolts of God, and massively over-engineered.
@@Ensign_Cthulhu Obviously they did the job they were designed to do, but STILL.. Four bolts?! lol They could be the size of a caddy and I think it'd still blow my mind ;-)
I actually submitted this building as part of my portfolio when applying for Architecture at uni :) it was great research and drawing too
its simply a good lesson learned. The idea of replaceable capsules was great but the structure needed improvement to be able to move one capsule at a time with in-between space enough to do maintenance
3:00 Those things look kinda.... _sus_
I like the fact that you speak about how in theory the Nakagin capsule tower should be able to last forever as part of Kurokawa's Metabolist idea.
Coincidentally, I have been reading up a bit on Japanese aesthetics and this Metabolist idea of replaceable pods to allow for a living and "eternal" building has its idea rooted in traditional Japanese philosophy of aesthetics. I don't remember what is the correct Japanese term which is to describe this but one example provided by in the book is of the Ise Shrine, which is reconstructed every 20 years.
While the materials maybe replaced, the looks and construction of the building still remains, and as long as the tradition continues, the building will remain "immortal", which in regards to the Nakagin capsule tower, should have been the way it was treated.
Perhaps, architecture did not fail the building but rather the property laws and contracts that governs the architecture. It is a huge loss in the world of 20th century post-war architecture, but it should also be a lesson that in order to make unique architecture work, architects must have more ownership of their creations even after their completion.