Modular Japan, Tribute/Update

Update: 16/10/07
Kisho Kurokawa 1934 - 2007
Last week, the japanese architect kisho kurokawa died of heart failure at the age of 73. His best known designs, include the Nakajin Capsule Tower, the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and the recently completed Tokyo National Art Centre.

Previous Post: 5/8/07
Lloyd Alter at Treehugger has posted an interesting and thoughtful article about Japan’s famed Capsule Tower (and its scheduled demolition!), an iconic structure and unique archetype for contemporary prefab architecture. Designed by Kisho Kurokawa in 1972, the Capsule Tower demonstrates the application of scalable and stackable modular architectural strategies. The tower consists of 140 capsule units attached to a central core. Its concept articulates the ideology behind the Metabolist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which envisioned cities formed of modular components. Two weeks ago, the decision was made to replace the Capsule Tower with a new 14-story tower, despite resistance from Kurokawa, who has been touting the flexibility of the building and even proposed the modernization of the tower by replacing old capsules with more modern units. Read Lloyd Alters' article here.