Architect: Kisho Kurokawa (April 8, 1934 – Oct 12, 2007)
Kisho Kurokawa first came into the public eye in 1960 when, along with other architects, they founded Metabolism, an architectural movement and philosophy of change. Kurokawa was twenty-six, the other architects in their early thirties. They had studied the politics of European avant-garde movements and were determined to fashion an ‘ism’ which would compete with those in the West.
Metabolism became an extended biological analogy meant to replace the mechanical analogy of orthodox modern architecture. It compared buildings and cities to an energy process found in all of life: the cycle of change, the constant renewal and destruction of organic tissue. This metaphor was, however, not so new as it looked to the West. In many ways it was just the ancient Taoist philosophy of cosmic change and eternal growth which makes for endless variations on the same theme.
The though of Metabolism is theoretical and 
philosophical. And do not intend to create forms or styles, because these are only the provisional manifestation of thoughts. Forms and styles occur in consequences of historical, temporal, spatial, material, geographical, social, and sometimes purely personal conditions.
Nakagin Capsule Tower is the world’s first capsule architecture built for actual use, it takes on the challenge of the issue of whether mass production can express a diverse new quality. The tower also strive to establish a space for the individual as a criticism to the Japan that modernized without undergoing any establishment of a “self”.
On April 15, 2007, the building’s management association approved plans calling for the architectural icon to be razed and replaced with a new 14-storey tower. Demolition is yet to be determined.
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