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CONCEPT OF CHANGEABILITY OF CAPSULE ARCHITECTURE AND ACTUAL RENOVATIONカプセル建築の変化に関する意図とリノベーションの実態
Abstract
The concept of change through time due to manipulation with capsules is topical for capsule architecture. By these means the buildings can, theoretically, indefinitely prolong their lifespan. However, the rare built cases show drawbacks of this concept, and new ways of actual renovations are implemented. Such renovation cases show the peculiar approach how to repair the buildings of this typology. Therefore this paper is aimed to extract the main features of the concept of change and actual renovation techniques by grouping several ideas regarding the concept of change and new renovation approaches applicable for the typology of capsule architecture.
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This book investigates the architectural, product design, and urban typology of the capsule which, beginning in the 1960s, broadened the concept of the basic building blocks of architecture to include a minimal living unit, called the "capsule." Here it is presented with regard to the continuity of the development of the Modern Movement, its revisionist criticism, pioneering examples, as well as contemporary examples and uses. The typology of the capsule allows us to consider this theme in terms of the architecture of resistance, with the potential to search for an "other" architecture that is embedded in our contemporaneity (manifested in small dwellings, composite structures, and container units; shelters and mobile homes in nature and the urban environment; technology transfer in high-tech designs; devices, additions, and extensions, etc.). The concept of the capsule as a building element of architecture, as well as a spatial element, can therefore be regarded as having a generative potential for an architecture of personal space for the individual, forcing us to reflect on our existing living and dwelling conditions.
https://www.routledge.com/Capsules-Typology-of-Other-Architecture/Senk/p/book/9781138280359
pdf preview: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315272177
Nakagin Capsule Tower (1972) by Kisho Kurokawa has been at the center of a preservation debate for over a decade. In the Metabolist spirit of continual growth, the architect designed the capsule living units to be replaced every 25 years while the concrete cores were to permanently remain. In the 43 years since its completion, no replacement has taken place. The building is in an advanced state of decay and neglect, but a strong voice of opposition from architects worldwide has continued to postpone demolition. A point of contention is that it has not reached a 50-year mark at which a work of architecture could, having proven its significance on its own, qualify for protection as historic landmark in Japan. The reason for Nakagin Capsule Tower's ultimate demolition, ironically, may be its inability to live up to its principals that made it landmark-worthy in the first place – the idea of the metabolic cycle, interchangeability, and adaptability. The paper will question preservation of a building which materialized ideals and principals that are culturally significant and yet did not economically and physically survive for 50 years. Furthermore, it will examine what it means to preserve a building such as the Nakagin Capsule Tower that was built upon the ideas of both permanence and impermanence.
This paper concentrates on the concept of capsule architecture and its application. The study uses the definition of a capsule provided by previous studies as a basis and follows the common trend of reevaluation modernist practices with the focus on capsular designs from the 1930s and their modern successors. The paper aims to create a comprehensive view of the history of the development of capsule architecture and supports the idea of the continuous nature of such development. In order to achieve this study collects 265 cases of capsular buildings as well as separate capsule examples and inspects them from different aspects to observe major trends. The research showed that the concept of capsule architecture, despite being interpreted by architects in different ways, usually falls into three main categories which can be named ‘mental’, ‘growing’, and ‘mobile’ capsules. Some capsules’ design can utilize all of these categories, and, in principle, be claimed by an architect as a universal and flexible architectural tool. Also, the concept’s application directly reflects on capsules’ basic characteristics namely shape, function, materials, size, number of capsules per structure, and method of capsules’ arrangements. This helps to better classify capsules depending on their application and construct a capsule’s common image. Therefore, a capsule generally can have a rectangular and various custom-made shapes, bear mostly residential function, made of plastics or metal, and has a size of approximately fitting inside 3 to 7 m³ cube chosen as a tool of measurement due to a big number of custom-made shapes where it is difficult to obtain correct measurements. This is partly because capsules can have a shape allowing conglomeration with similar units, so a capsule can have joints, consoles, legs, etc. If capsules form a single structure, in the built examples this number tends not to exceed 50 units, while in the unbuilt section this number is more spread among different scales of capsular structures able to grow to thousands of units and entire capsular cities. Lastly, the method of capsules’ arrangement already well defined by previous studies and is as follows: (1) the capsules spreading on topography, (2) stackable, (3) plug-in, and, notably, (4) the capsules inserted inside a grid and which are the rarest type. The general characteristics of capsules allow demonstrating the common image of a capsule as a phenomenon in the architectural realm and showing the potential and usefulness of capsular designs over conventional architecture and serve as a basis for the further research onto capsule architecture.
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