A look inside the Nakagin Capsule Tower, a landmark of the Japanese Metabolist movement that stood for over 50 years
Comprised of two steel and concrete towers outfitted with 140 prefabricated living capsules, the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo is one of the most iconic and influential architectural marvels of the postwar period. A touchstone of the Metabolist movement, the tower was designed by the office of Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa (1934–2007) and completed between 1970 and 1972. Each capsule was intended for single occupancy and came outfitted with its own ensuite bathroom, a foldout desk, a telephone, a reel-to-reel tape player, a Sony color television and a "porthole" window overlooking the city. In this volume of the MoMA One on One series, curator Evangelos Kotsioris delves into the groundbreaking design, construction, evolution and ultimate need for the demolition of this remarkable structure in 2022. It is published in advance of MoMA's exhibition of one of the original capsules, the first to be publicly shown in the United States.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Archinect
Josh Niland
Kisho Kurokawa’s groundbreaking feat of Metabolism will be given a proper consideration with a recovered capsule (#A1305 – once the building’s highest) and 45 other archival materials that showcase and contextualize the visionary contribution to late-modernism that the world lost in 2022 at the conclusion of a drawn-out process.
designboom
Kat Barandy
In a city shaped by constant renewal, this retrospective probes what it means to preserve an architectural concept.
The Guardian
Oliver Wainright
As Japan’s beloved Nakagin Capsule Tower resurfaces, we celebrate an architectural marvel.
Archinect
Niall Patrick Walsh
[Offers] further insight into the building’s design, transformation, and legacy.
Designboom
Kat Barandy
Built in Tokyo’s Ginza district in 1972 and dismantled in 2022, the structure was once among the clearest architectural expressions of Metabolism in Japan, a movement that sought to mirror natural growth and transformation in the built environment. Now, through a single, fully restored capsule and a constellation of archival materials, MoMA reactivates that legacy with the goal of inspiring inquiry over nostalgia.
The Japan Times
Zoria Petkoska
The architect had always imagined that his poster-child of metabolist architecture would transform and change. While Kurosawa once drew up plans for a twin building to Nakagin Capsule Tower that was never realized, the latest exhibition is an invitation to imagine both the structure’s past lives and its future potential we have yet to experience.
Wallpaper*
Diana Budds
That Kurokawa was able to create a building that so many people cherished and felt deep personal connections to is perhaps his most enduring achievement, and one that will live on indefinitely.
Domus
Ilaria Bonvicini
With this tribute, MoMA reintroduces the Nakagin Capsule Tower not merely as a building, but as an ecosystem: a prototype of flexible urban living and a utopian vision, perhaps ultimately unfulfilled, yet still capable of offering a vital lesson on architecture’s adaptability and the enduring power of its many lives.
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FORMAT: Pbk, 7.25 x 9 in. / 48 pgs / 35 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $14.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $22.95 ISBN: 9781633451735 PUBLISHER: The Museum of Modern Art, New York AVAILABLE: 8/12/2025 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Kisho Kurokawa: Nakagin Capsule Tower MoMA One on One Series
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Text by Evangelos Kotsioris.
A look inside the Nakagin Capsule Tower, a landmark of the Japanese Metabolist movement that stood for over 50 years
Comprised of two steel and concrete towers outfitted with 140 prefabricated living capsules, the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo is one of the most iconic and influential architectural marvels of the postwar period. A touchstone of the Metabolist movement, the tower was designed by the office of Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa (1934–2007) and completed between 1970 and 1972. Each capsule was intended for single occupancy and came outfitted with its own ensuite bathroom, a foldout desk, a telephone, a reel-to-reel tape player, a Sony color television and a "porthole" window overlooking the city. In this volume of the MoMA One on One series, curator Evangelos Kotsioris delves into the groundbreaking design, construction, evolution and ultimate need for the demolition of this remarkable structure in 2022. It is published in advance of MoMA's exhibition of one of the original capsules, the first to be publicly shown in the United States.
