Located in the Ginza district, the 1972 tower was among the best-known examples of Metabolist architecture, a midcentury movement in Japan that recognized the impermanence of the built environment. Kurokawa was a central figure in that movement, and he believed buildings should be designed to adapt. The Nakagin Capsule Tower embodied this notion, featuring two service cores that supported 140 prefabricated “capsule” units, each meant to be moveable and replaceable. The capsules, with their single, circular windows, captured significant attention, even appearing in the 2013 film The Wolverine. Around that time, some of the pods—which were originally marketed as pieds-à-terre for businessmen from the suburbs—had become Airbnb rentals, storage spaces, and offices, including that of Fala Atelier, a Portuguese architecture practice.
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