The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower

The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, a new exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, examines one of the most radical architectural experiments of the post-WWII era. Designed by the office of Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, the Nakagin Capsule Tower was completed in 1972 and became the defining realization of Metabolism, the Japanese avant-garde movement whose members envisioned cities and buildings that could grow, change, and evolve over time. Instead of focusing solely on the architect’s intentions, the exhibition traces the many lives architecture can hold: as a manifesto; a design encoded in drawings and models; a real estate product; a pop culture artifact; a hive of unplanned activities; a site of community preservation efforts; and, ultimately, a “living” archive after demolition.

Conceived as a prototype for nomadic urban living, the tower consisted of two concrete cores with 140 prefabricated capsules serving as pied-à-terre units for commuting businessmen. Capsules were meant to be replaced every 25 to 30 years—yet that vision was never realized. Over five decades, residents instead adapted them into second homes, offices, student rooms, tea rooms, galleries, or DJ booths, among other uses. Once a symbol of Japan’s postwar techno-futurism, the building was eventually dismantled in 2022, after years of unsuccessful efforts to salvage it. Yet its legacy lives on thanks to former residents who formed the Nakagin Capsule Tower Preservation and Restoration Project to preserve its memory.

At the center of the exhibition stands capsule A1305, an original unit from the building’s top floor now in MoMA’s collection. Each capsule came standard with built-in furniture, a bathroom, and appliances such as a Sony color television, Sanyo refrigerator, and alarm clock. MoMA’s unit also retains rare optional add-ons once marketed to buyers: a Sony radio receiver and reel-to-reel tape recorder, and a Sharp calculator. Surrounding the capsule are more than 45 contextual works, including the project’s only surviving model; original drawings, photographs, and ephemera; an archival film and audio recordings; and interviews with former tenants. A newly acquired series of photographs by Noritaka Minami documents the building’s final decade, while an interactive photogrammetry model by Yuta Tokunaga (ARCHI HATCH), created two days before demolition, allows visitors to virtually explore the building in its last state.

Installed in MoMA’s street-level gallery, the exhibition marks the first time the space’s folding façade—designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Gensler—has opened to receive a full-scale architectural fragment. Restored in Japan under the supervision of Kurokawa’s office, capsule A1305 is illuminated and visible from Manhattan’s 53rd Street. In a nod to the original palette of Tower A’s stairwell, where MoMA’s capsule once stood, the exhibition design faithfully reproduces the “coral” pink and orange tones documented in period brochures and archival photographs. Inspired by nature, these vibrant colors reflect the Metabolists’ fascination with biology and life processes, offering an alternative to the machine-age metaphors of Western modernism of the 1920s and '30s.

An accompanying publication in MoMA’s One on One series, Kisho Kurokawa: Nakagin Capsule Tower, extends the exhibition through new research and interviews with historians, architects, Kurokawa’s collaborators, and former residents. Including previously unpublished archival material and firsthand accounts not represented in the exhibition, the book offers a layered and intimate portrait of this unconventional structure. Along with the exhibition, the publication invites us to imagine how architecture might evolve beyond what its designers envision, taking on new roles, functions, and meanings.

The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower is 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. Public programming in collaboration with Japan Society will be announced on moma.org.