Photo/Illutration A capsule room removed from the Nakagin Capsule Tower is being repaired in Chiba Prefecture on Dec. 6. When light shines through the round window, the interior takes on the ambience of a spaceship. (Jin Nishioka)

Apartment rooms removed from the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo are being renovated for reuse, much as its famed architect had envisioned a half-century ago. 

Once touted as an architectural marvel, the building designed by Kisho Kurokawa (1934-2007) contained 140 capsules, each having a floor space of about 10 square meters and a round window.

The iconic building, which stood in the capital’s Ginza district, was dismantled in 2022 after it fell into disrepair.

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A worker repairs a capsule room in Chiba Prefecture on Dec. 6. (Jin Nishioka)

Kisho Kurokawa Architect & Associates is overseeing the project of renovating 23 capsules, with the interior of 14 units being restored to represent the style from 1972, when the building was completed.

“We wanted to restore the interior back to its original state as much as possible because only a limited number of people had seen the inside with their own eyes,” said Tatsuyuki Maeda, 55, head of the Nakagin Capsule Tower Preservation and Restoration Project.

The 23 capsules were brought into a factory in Chiba Prefecture to have their fixtures and fittings replaced, including the ceiling, carpet, bed and window shade, in addition to painting the outer walls.

Because the refrigerator, modular bath and other equipment installed in each room were custom-made at the time of construction, they were removed when the tower was dismantled and are being reinstalled back into the capsules at the factory, Maeda said.

The capsules will be handed over to museums, hotels and other institutions in and outside Japan for use at exhibits and accommodation facilities.

The remaining nine units are set to undergo repair only on the exterior before they are delivered as a skeletal frame, on the assumption the interior will be arranged at the discretion of the new owner.

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Tatsuyuki Maeda, 55, head of the Nakagin Capsule Tower Preservation and Restoration Project, sits inside a repaired capsule room in Chiba Prefecture on Dec. 6. (Jin Nishioka)

Reusing the capsules lives up to the expectations of Kurokawa, who designed the Nakagin Capsule Tower based on the “Metabolism” architecture movement, which called for buildings and cities to transform in accordance with social changes.

The tower was known as a representative work of Metabolism.

“I think Kurokawa would have wanted to see the capsules reborn, responding to the changing times,” Maeda said. “After the new owners take over the renovated capsules, Metabolism could be seen in a new light and prompt new buildings to be constructed.”

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