Time Is Running Out for Tokyo’s Nakagin Capsule Tower www.citylab.com

The Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, pictured in 2009.
In the densely packed Tokyo neighborhood of Shinbashi, one building stands out from all the others: the 13-story Nakagin Capsule Tower, completed in 1972.
Simultaneously retro and futuristic, the tower is a departure from the area’s mix of nondescript residential buildings and sleek offices.
Designed by the late architect Kisho Kurokawa, the tower is one of the best surviving examples of Metabolism, a postwar architectural movement in Japan.
Subscribe Loading... Tatsuyuki Maeda, a member of the Nakagin Capsule Tower Building Conservation and Regeneration Project, hopes the building will be spared both for its place in architectural history and because of its popularity with tourists.