Kisho Kurakawa: Metabolism in Architecture (1977)

Does Metabolism mean Spacial Flexibility?

The word metabolism describes the process of maintaining living cells. Young Japanese architects after World War II referred tp this term to showcase about how buildings and cities should be designed, emulating a living being. Metabolist architects believed that cities and buildings are not static entities, but are ever-changing organism with a "metabolism"; a Jane Jacob-ian approach. An organism that takes in resources and produces waste. The movement could have taken that name because they were distancing away from modernism, arguing that buildings and cities should be conceived as living beings, and therefore should grow organically, according to the needs of their inhabitants. On the same line, 'flexibilty' refers to the ability of a building to continuously adapt its space layout and even its structure to evolving needs of its users. 

Fig1:Nagakin's Capsule tower in Tokyo
Photo credit: https://www.thoughtco.com/

One of the interesting metabolist architecture includes Kurakawa's 'Nagakin's capsule tower' in Tokyo (Fig1). Over 100 prefabricated cell-capsule-units are individually bolted onto a single concrete shaft, although the look is more like a stalk of front-loading washing machines. And while it was the 'house of the future', the capsule design was based upon the interpretation of references and traditions from Japanese culture. With its avant-garde aesthetic; sci-fi appearance and machine-like quality, it proposed a mutant quality, offering the opportunity of adaptation/flexibility over time. Units are freed from the constraint of the grid, or the authority of the structure, and rather “float” in the space, in an apparent serendipity.  Even though flexibility got merged into this style, how did it get lost on the way? After forty years, it is seen how the building is lost in the day-to-day routines of the city. It  is stuck, old and decaying, obscured in the shadow of the new skyscrapers. Today the Nakagin is nothing but a vibrant reminder of a path that was not followed, a sculptural route to an unrealized future.

Le Corbusier's notion of an ideal city (Fig.2) incorporated the concept of flexibility as well. He believed that all the different spaces; living spaces, working spaces, recreational spaces are interconnected using the road systems and could change and adapt according to the needs of its users. Nevertheless, it may be fair to say that even though the concept of metabolism did not survive over the years, the idea of spacial flexibility came through and is essentially one of the key components that most young architects look into while designing. I guess?

Reference: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-metabolism-in-architecture-177292

Fig2: City structure according to Le Corbusier - Bur Dubai
Red shows the living spaces; blue shows the working spaces; purple shows the recreational space; green shows the street life and yellow shows the roads that connects the city
Photo credit: Aashika Shibu