Metabolist Movement

(Metabolist School of Architecture)

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In 1959 a group of Japanese architects and city planners

Related Topics:
1959 - Japanese architects - City planners

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joined forces under the name 'the Metabolists'.

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Their vision of a city of the future inhabited by a

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mass society was characterised by large scale, flexible

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and extendable structures that enable an organic growth

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process.

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In their view the traditional laws of form and function were obsolete.

Related Topics:
Form - Function

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They believed that the laws of space and functional transformation

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held the future for society and culture.

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Famous projects included the floating city in the sea (Unabara project),

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K. Kikutake's tower city, the wall city, the

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agricultural city and the 'Helix City' by Kisho Kurokawa.

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Japanese Metabolists

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• Living in a capsule (Akira Shibuya 1966, Youji Watanabe 1967, Kisho Kurokawa 1970-72)
• Mega city planning for Tokyo (Kenzo Tange and Kisho Kikutake 1960)

Western Emulators

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• Habitat Montréal (Moshe Safdie 1967)
• Funnel city 'Intrapolis' (Walter Jonas 1960)
• Space city (Yona Friedman 1959-63)
• Overbuilding the city of Ragnitz (Günther Domenig 1963-69)
• Swimming Hotel Kairo (Justus Dahinden 1972)
• Akro-Polis leisure city (Justus Dahinden 1974)
• Leisure city Kiryat Ono near Tel Aviv (Justus Dahinden 1984)

The unity of pop and machine: Archigram

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• Plug-in-City, Living Pod and Capsule Tower (Peter Cook 1964-66)
• Walking City and Instant City (Ron Herron 1964-70)
• Trickling Towers and Layer City (Peter Cook 1978-82)