Tokyo’s Famous Capsule Tower To Make A Comeback In Both Real & Virtual Worlds
This year, Tokyo lost a great addition to its skyline, the Nakagin Capsule Tower.
What was once a tower made up of porthole-style units stacked together had its novelty worn off as people started to seek out more practical locations for office and living spaces.
The idea behind the Nakagin tower was created by Kisho Kurokawa, who took an adapted modular concept for a building and turned it into real life. The structure was supposed to be slowly built over time, adding and removing a capsule whenever an owner decided to move in or out.
However, due to its small size, odd-shaped rooms, and high maintenance, the building was quickly lost to Japan’s bubble economy in the 1970s, when it was first built. Only a few residents remained, using the space as an office area, a getaway from the rush of the city, or a place to hang out with friends.
Nonetheless, its demolition caused quite a stir, with citizens flocking to try to save the structure from being stormed down by businesses eager to take advantage of its prime real estate.
And it wasn’t in vain; it would seem as if a new project to rebuild Nakagin is underway. This time, not only in real life but in the metaverse as well.
The original architectural firm behind the project, Kisho Kurokawa Architect and Associates (KKAA), which will be working with LAETOLI corporation, is auctioning the rights to the building blueprints on OpenSea as a non-fungible token (NFT).
This opens the sale up to any architecture firm in the world to now have the rights to the structure and to build it anywhere they would like.
The building was born from the idea of a “metabolism architecture” standpoint. The company understands how quickly the world around it changes and designed Nakagin to evolve with it.
It is now hoping someone else will take up the helm and recreate the iconic tower for the modern era.
In accordance with this frame of thought, having the building enter the digital space also stands to show how it can move with the times.
International architectural firm BDP has recreated the tower digitally through archival drawings, which will then be passed to the winning bidder for them to bring it to life.
The winning party will have free creative reign over the design, color, and function of the building. However, KKAA has asked the winners to still share their plans to be approved for construction.
