Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa envisioned the Nakagin Capsule Tower as a living system. Held in place by only four bolts, each of the building’s 140 capsules was designed to be easily detached from its two concrete cores and replaced every few decades. Rather than remaining permanently fixed to the building, the capsules could also embark on new journeys, traveling across cities, countries, or even oceans. Completed in 1972, the project is widely regarded as the defining example of Japanese Metabolism and a landmark experiment in prefabricated architecture. When the building was demolished in 2022, its capsules left the site hoisted by cranes and transported by trucks, tracing in reverse the choreography of their original installation.
Long treated as a measure of architectural success, the act of assembling has shaped the built environment on a planetary scale. Yet as architects confront climate change, material scarcity, and the environmental costs of construction, the ability of buildings to be repaired, adapted, relocated, and ultimately taken apart may become an equally important measure of their value. What might it mean to design not only for construction, but also for transformation, reuse, and eventual disassembly?
As MoMA’s exhibition The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower approaches its own dismantling, this special panel reflects on the enduring relevance of one of the building’s most radical ideas: design for disassembly. The conversation will bring together architects Ruth Mandl and Bobby Johnston of CO Adaptive, architect and Columbia University GSAPP Dean Andrés Jaque, and artist and engineer Xin Liu. The discussion will be moderated by Evangelos Kotsioris, MoMA curator and director of the Emilio Ambasz Institute, and Paula Vilaplana de Miguel, curatorial associate in MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design.
Admission is free, but RSVP is required. Seating will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
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