Exhibition - The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower / Museum of Modern Art

[Matthew Heins]

The exhibition "The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower" will be at the Museum of Modern Art (New York) from July 10 of this year to July 12 of next year. This exhibition will even include a restored capsule--what more could one ask?

When I was in Tokyo many years ago, I had the good fortune to see this building, though only from the outside. What a shame it's been demolished.

(Also, if you happen to be in New York, it's worth checking out the Skyscraper Museum. It's a very small museum, but it contains a lot of detailed information about architecture--mostly about skyscrapers, of course--all quite well presented. And admission is free.)

Their summary is copied below, or can be seen at https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5830

For another description, with many images, see https://press.moma.org/exhibition/nakagin-capsule-tower/

For the press release, which contains much more information, see https://press.moma.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/MoMA_TheManyLivesofNakaginCapsuleTower_PressRelease_Final-1.pdf

Also, for a review/description (with many images), see https://www.designboom.com/architecture/moma-nakagin-capsule-tower-exhibition-many-lives-museum-modern-art-new-york-05-23-2025/

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“This building is not an apartment house.” With this declaration, Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa introduced the Nakagin Capsule Tower as a radically new vision for urban living. Completed in 1972, the structure consisted of 140 single-occupancy capsules, prefabricated offsite and attached to two concrete-and-steel cores in Tokyo’s Ginza district. The building became the defining realization of Metabolism, an avant-garde Japanese movement of the 1960s whose members imagined cities and buildings that could adapt over time.

Kurokawa imagined his building and its modular capsules as a dynamic system. Originally marketed as micro-dwellings for commuting businessmen, the capsules were repurposed into second homes, offices, dorm rooms, art studios, tea rooms, libraries, galleries, and DJ booths. Once a symbol of Japan’s postwar techno-futurism, the building was controversially demolished in 2022 after years of deferred maintenance. Yet its legacy lives on.

At the heart of The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower stands capsule A1305, a fully restored unit from the Tower’s top floor. The exhibition also brings together original drawings and models with ephemera, photographs, and films to explore how this unconventional structure became a hive of creativity, debate, and community. Video interviews with former residents and a three-dimensional model show how Kurokawa’s experiment evolved from a prototype for flexible urban dwelling to a case study in preservation. The story of the Nakagin Capsule Tower invites us to imagine how architecture might evolve beyond what its designers envision, taking on new roles, functions, and meanings.

Organized by Evangelos Kotsioris, Assistant Curator, and Paula Vilaplana de Miguel, Curatorial Associate, with Joëlle Martin, former 12-month intern, Department of Architecture and Design.