The good thing about cities is they re-invent themselves. The bad thing about cities is, they reinvent themselves.
While world capitols like Paris and Rome are pretty careful with what they tear down, New York and Tokyo have always been less hesitant about replacing the old with the new. Manhattan’s iconic Singer Building (the tallest skyscraper in the world, in the early 20th Century, photo on left) was torn down amidst much protest in the late 1960s.
Now Tokyo’s similarly iconic Nakagin Capsule Tower, part of the Metabolist movement of the 1960s and ’70s, is also going the way of all things. The modular structure will be going on the chopping block to make way for a newer structure.
I’m usually fine with Tokyo’s chaotic path of renewal, but this is sad.
Kisho Kurokawa’s iconic Nakagin Capsule Tower is scheduled to be demolished and replaced by a new 14-story tower. The Metabolist capsule building consists of 140 units attached to a central core, articulating the ideology behind the Metabolist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which envisioned cities formed of modular components.
