中銀カプセルタワービルから取り外し修復したカプセルを、サンフランシスコ近代美術館(SFMOMA)が取得。

Noritaka Minami, Facade, 2011, archival pigment print

建築家黒川紀章氏の代表作「中銀カプセルタワービル」（1972年-2022年）。メタボリズム（新陳代謝）思想の建築として、世界中の多くの方から愛されてきました。本来は古くなったカプセル（部屋）を交換することで、半永久的に使用できる建物として注目されましたが、一度も交換されることはなく、2022年に解体されました。

中銀カプセルタワービル保存・再生プロジェクトはカプセルやメタボリズムの思想を後世に伝えたいとの思いから、「カプセル新陳代謝プロジェクト」を立ち上げ、140あったカプセル（部屋）のうち23カプセルを取り外し竣工時の姿に修復。それらを美術館や商業施設での展示や、宿泊施設などに再活用します。

SFMOMA, photo：Jon McNeal, © Snøhetta

A1302 photo：Nakagin Capsule Tower Preservation and Restoration Project

A1302 photo：Nakagin Capsule Tower Preservation and Restoration Project

サンフランシスコ近代美術館のカプセル取得は今回のプロジェクトの第三弾になり、下記２つはすでに公開されています。

株式会社淀川製鋼所の「動く中銀カプセルトレーラー」

https://www.yodoko.co.jp/release/2023/pdf/230406.pdf

松竹株式会社の新スペース「SHUTL（シャトル）」

https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000001.000120348.html

詳細はサンフランシスコ近代美術館のプレスリリースをご覧ください。

SFMOMA is First Museum to Acquire a Capsule from the Visionary Nakagin Capsule Tower 

On May 18, 2023, SFMOMA became the first museum to acquire a Capsule from the Nakagin Capsule Tower, built in Tokyo, Japan, in 1972. 

One of architect Kisho Kurokawa’s earliest projects, the Nakagin Capsule Tower was an example of Metabolist architecture, a significant architecture movement in post-war Japan. They proposed an architecture that integrated ideas of responsiveness, adaptability and impermanence. Metabolist architecture is based on the Japanese concept “shinchintaisha,” a biological term for cell adaptation to sustain life, which can be translated in English as metabolism. In Japanese, the term is also imbued with a Buddhist spiritual idea of renewal and regeneration. 

The 13-floor Nakagin Capsule Tower featured two central towers containing infrastructure for 140 small, prefabricated living units attached to the exterior of the towers. The idea was that individual units could be replaced or even moved to different locations. Originally billed in the real estate documents as “Business Capsules” for businessmen to have a private space during the week, the prefabricated capsules featured a single circular window, a full bathroom, a built-in bed and a fold-down desk. The owner would also select optional interior features and accessories from a menu of options, which included the latest Japanese electronics of the day, such as a television and a reel-to-reel tape player. 

The capsules were initially popular; however, as the surrounding neighborhood developed, the Nakagin real estate company invested little in the Capsule Tower’s maintenance. Nakagin Capsule Tower remained as it was built until October 5, 2022, when the central towers and most of the capsules were demolished. Nakagin Capsule Tower Preservation and Restoration Project, led by Tatsuyuki Maeda, managed to save 23 capsules. 

Capsule A1302, acquired by SFMOMA, was the capsule owned by Kisho Kurokawa. It had a prime location on the tower’s highest floor and was featured in several movies. Capsule A1302 has been carefully restored in close conversation with Kurokawa’s office, curators and historians; it contains original features and electronics available to buyers who customized their units in 1972. Given the small dimensions of 8.2 ft. width x 13.1 ft. length x 8.2 ft. height, the Capsule offers an extraordinary opportunity to acquire built architecture and to realize the architect’s wish that the Capsules not remain fixed, but rather move to other locations. The capsule joins the museum’s deep holdings in Japanese architecture, design and photography. In addition to SFMOMA’s acquisition of Capsule A1302, the museum has collected nine photographs by Noritaka Minami from his series 1972, documenting the unique interiors of living at the Nakagin Capsule Tower between 2010-2022. 

About the Architect Kisho Kurokawa 

In 1960, Kisho Kurokawa was the youngest of seven cofounders of the Architectural Metabolist movement, and by 1962, he opened Kisho Kurokawa architect & associates, an architecture firm still active in 2023, although Kurokawa passed away in 2007 at the age of 73. The Tokyo-based Metabolist architects put forward a distinctly Japanese architectural approach that recognized the impermanence of buildings, technology and people, and the longevity of concepts, traditions and nature. The Nakagin Capsule Tower is one of a small number of built works during the Metabolist period. Fumihiko Maki, one of the original Metabolist architects, later designed the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, which opened in 1993, and is located across the street from SFMOMA. 

Kurokawa went on to design several buildings including the City Art Museum (Nagoya, 1987); the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (Sepang, Malaysia, 1998); the Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, 1999); and the National Art Center (Tokyo, 2006). Kurokawa wrote The Philosophy of Symbiosis, which was translated into several languages. He was also a beloved television personality who took to the media very naturally, and even ran for Governor of Tokyo in 2007, the year he passed away unexpectedly. 

Media contact: 

Rebecca Herman, rherman@sfmoma.org, 415.357.4174 

＜中銀カプセルタワービル保存・再生プロジェクトについて＞

2014年に保存を望むオーナーと住人を中心に結成。2015年11月『中銀カプセルタワービル 銀座の白い箱舟』（青月社）、2020年12月『中銀カプセルスタイル：20人の物語で見る誰も知らないカプセルタワー』（草思社）、2022年3月『中銀カプセルタワービル 最後の記録』（草思社）等を出版。管理組合と協力体制を構築することで、見学会の開催や、取材、撮影のお手伝い、またコミュニティーの形成にも力を注いできました。

公式ウェブサイト：https://www.nakagincapsuletower.com/

カプセル新陳代謝プロジェクトウェブサイト：https://capsule-metabolism.com

Facebook：https://www.facebook.com/NakaginCapsuleTower

instagram：https://www.instagram.com/nakagin_capsule_tower/

Twitter：https://twitter.com/nakagincapsule

＜株式会社 黒川紀章建築都市設計事務所について＞

黒川紀章は、1960年弱冠26歳で建築の理論運動メタボリズムを提唱し、機械の時代から生命の時代への変革を主張してきました。設計活動は世界20ヵ国におよび、世界各地で完成した作品は高い評価を得ており、フランス建築アカデミーのゴールドメダル等を多数受賞しました。2007年に黒川紀章が他界した後、黒川紀章建築都市設計事務所は創立者黒川紀章によって構築されたブランドを継承し、国内外で設計活動を行っています。近年では、広島現代美術館改修（2022年竣工）、福井県恐竜博物館増築改修（2023年竣工予定）、在東京インドネシア共和国大使館（2024年竣工予定）等も手掛けています。

公式ウェブサイト：https://www.kisho.co.jp/j_index.html