POLITECNICO DI MILANO

Japanese Architecture after World War II:

Significant events and Ideologies from 1955-1970

Saeid Kalantari
Soheil Tajik

History of Contemporary Architecture

Professor F. Deambrosis

Master of Science in Architectural Design

July 13, 2017

1
Abstract: This paper focuses on important architecture events from 1955 to 1970 when Japan started to
ameliorate its situation and stabilized its position among developed countries. During this time numerous
international seminars, conference, exposition and one Olympic game held in Japan, which gathered many
people from all over the world together. Furthermore, new approaches and styles in architecture like
Metabolist were introduced from Japanese architecture to the world. All of these was the main reason for
Japan to improve its infrastructure, which massively damaged during the World War II. In addition, great
architects such as Kenzo Tange played a key role in this improvement through years by designing,
constructing and leading great projects, which influenced Japanese architecture and culture.

Keywords: Japanese architecture, Metabolist, Resilience, Japan Olympic Games, Osaka Expo

Introduction
After the World War II, the main Japanese cities were destroyed and large part of the residential areas and
industrial factories needed to be reconstruct. Hence, Japan started new way of reconstruction that began only
after 1948. At this point providing the shelters and urban facilities for people became priority and by
expansion of the economy, Japan started to westernize everything to compete with other developed
countries.
In the first five years, the development of the industry preceded slowly in Japan, but from 1950 the burst of
the War of Korea and the beginning of the Cold War caused change to Japanese economic policy. Japan
became the principal supplier of materials to the United States, and besides became the important strategic
base of the American in Far East, as a bulwark against the communist block that was trying to expand in Asia.
Therefore, the Americans promoted the development of a heavy industry and, during the three years of war,
Japan began an impressive work of modernization of the industrial base and assimilation of technologies
from abroad.1
Nevertheless, the main significant events and projects which had an effective role in architecture of Japan
occurred through years after world war two. seminar of Konrad Wachsmann(1955) which gathered number
of Japanese architects together and was first step toward westernizing Japanese architecture, participation of
Kenzo Tange in meeting of CIAM in Netherland(1959) and World design conference which happened in
1960 in Tokyo was the starting point of new international and national movements and ideologies like
Metabolist and Urban Resilience in Japan.2
Gradually Japanese architects started to express their own styles through opportunities that they had in
international events that happened in Japan after world war two. Japan Olympic Games (1964) and Osaka
Exposition (1970) considered as two main international events, which significantly improved Japanese
architecture. Besides, Kenzo Tange, as one of the Influential architects of this era, played a key role toward
impressive change in Japanese architecture. He constructed and designed number of successful architecture
and urban projects in japan and was the reason and guide to start a new international style (Metabolist) in
japan.
In providing this paper, we therefore propose to investigate important events from 1955 to 1970 in three
main parts. We have categorized three parts at which we can identify significant elements in terms of the
influence of it in Japanese architecture. First, we start with discussing about main seminars and conferences,
which familiarized Japanese architect with west architecture, then we introduce Metabolism as a most

1 (Raffaele 2007, 57)

2 (Hiroyuki Suzuki, and Reyner Banham, and Katsuhiro Kobayas 1984, 6)

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important movement in Japan’s architecture after World War II and at the end, some noticeable events that
happened because of Metabolism architecture are brought up.

Initial roots of contemporary Japanese Architecture:

The end of the destructive Second World War was regarded as an evolution in Japanese architecture. Because
of the War, some of the greatest changes were produced that have ever seen in the history of the life of the
Japanese architecture.
In the beginning of twentieth century, by the time of Meji restoration was happening, western culture
penetrated into Japanese life. The new culture was the cause of japan change in politic and economic
template, but the feeling of the feudal way of life, which had controlled the country for many centuries until
then, remained as before and took firm root in the various fields of society under Imperial rule. These roots
were shocked in every place with the development of capitalism during Taisho (1911-1926) and Showa (1926)
period; some of these roots were interrupted and other began to vanish, yet they still gave nourishment to
society. Meanwhile, with the defeat in 1945, feudal feelings altered fundamentally in appearance. Eventually,
under General MacArthur's seven-year occupation, Japanese politics, economics and education became
enormously westernized; which still going on as today. After the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty
(1951), national self-consciousness slowly improved, so the propensity arose in every field to check over
westernization.3
However, throughout these years, three significant architecture events, which we will address afterward, could
be seen that completely changed Japanese architecture. These events could be considered as main roots of
Japanese architecture and the reason it helped japan to prove itself as a new Avant-garde architecture to the
world.
The first significant event, the seminar of Konrad Wachsmann, occurred in 1955. Wachsmann, German
modernist architect, went to the United States in 1941 where he studied architecture and familiarized himself
with the crucial structure materials of industrialized countries. In that seminar, which was sponsored by the
architecture department of Tokyo University, Wachsmann used the current lessons at the Illinois Institute of
Technology, where he was a professor. The conference was attended by twenty-one students, including Arata
Isozaki, Kenji Ekuan, Mamoru Kawaguchi, Tomotoshi Kavazoe, Hiroshi Sasaki, Kozuhide Takahama,
Tetsuo Matsumoto, and others, all of whom would after that apply their effect on the course of architecture
in Japan. The importance of Wachmann's conference lay in the fact that an example of architectural
education, though precisely that of the U.S., had been experienced by Japanese pupils. In addition, the works
of Tange and Oe within 10 years of war, Japanese architecture found an international audience in these years
and with those events, Watchsmann showed the Japanese architecture as a subject to the current international
architecture to the world. 4
The second architecture event for Japanese architecture happened, when Kenzo Tange was invited to the
CIAM '59 meeting of the association in Otterlo, Netherlands, while “by the early 1950s it was felt that CIAM
was losing its avant-garde attitude so in 1954 a group of younger members called "Team 10" was formed.
This involved the inner dutch group of architects Jacob Bakema and Aldo van Eyck, Italian Giancarlo De
Carlo, Greek Georges Candilis, the British architects Peter and Alison Smithson and the American Shadrach
Woods. The Team 10 architects introduced ideas such as "human association", "cluster" and "mobility", with
Bakema stimulating the combination of architecture and urban planning design. This was a rejection of

3 (Kokie, Shinjin, and Hamaguchi, Ryuichi 1956, 16-22)

4 (Hiroyuki Suzuki, and Reyner Banham, and Katsuhiro Kobayas 1984, 6)

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CIAM's older four function mechanical approach and it was the last meeting for CIAM.” However, Tange
presented two theoretical projects by the architect Kiyonori Kikutake: The Tower-shaped City and Kikutake's
own home, the Sky House. This presentation exposed the fledgling Metabolist movement to its first
international audience. Like Team 10's "human association" concepts, their ideas were exploring new
concepts in urban design.5
The World Design Conference presented in Tokyo from 12th to 15th of May 1960, an international event
held for the first time ever in Japan could be considered as third important architecture event In Tokyo. In
those years, generally 18 design exhibitions were held in several department galleries. This important meeting,
whose main theme was the “Visual Communication” and joined together graphic design and environmental
design experts at the same time, was a great occasion for Japanese architects and designers to promote their
works and ideas, as well as to meet and exchange experiences and opinions with professionals and colleagues
from abroad. The number of foreign designers from 26 countries was 84, including 143 Japanese designers,
participated in the conference, among the other architects invited to join the conference were the architects
Luis Khan, Paul Rudolph, Jacob Bakema, Alison and Peter Smithson. In addition, the coordinator of this
conference was Takashi Asada, an engineer colleague of Tange, took a responsibility of preparing of the
meeting who successfully promoted the commitment to host the conference in Tokyo but then left the task
of the preparation of the meeting due to his teaching activity at MIT University. 6

Figure 1: Sankei Kaikan Kokusai hall Photo, Tohoku University of Art & Design Library (From www.thisisdisplay.org)

The theme of the event was “Our Century: The Total Image—What Designers can contribute to the Human
Environment of the Coming Age.” The conference concentrated on the future horizon of the modern world,
which was a purpose that reflected on the problems of designers such as mass production and energy
consumption, and the separation of solid design from materialistic design. The conference was made of three
seminar parts: Personality, Practicability and Possibility. Each of these parts were divided into three boards:

5 (Lin 2010, 26)

6 (Stewart 1989, 170-177)

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1)individuality, regionality, and universality, 2)environment, production, and communication and last but not
least 3)society, technology, and philosophy.
Also during these conferences, Japanese members proposed their creative thoughts for design. Three
proposals, mainly, were significant as they were based on the unique idea outlook: 1) “Japonica Style” by
industrial designer Isamu Kenmochi, “Kata” and “Katachi” by graphic designer Yusaku Kamekura, and
“Metabolism” by critic Noboru Kawazoe. The proposals by Kenmochi and Kamekura precisely centralized
on challenging tradition when creating new international designs. In addition, the following themes were
stablished at the conference:
“Individualities “individualism, localism, internationalism
“Actualism” – Environment, production, communication
“Possibility” – Society, Technology, design education7

Metabolist
Metabolist movement was officially birth and developed by the young architects who were preparing to
participate in the World Design Conference. The youngest of them, Noriaki (later Kisho Kurokawa), he was
twenty-six when they announced the manifesto, Metabolism 1960: proposal for a New Urbanism.
Metabolism was not only an architectural theory aimed to resolve the problems of overpopulation of
crowded Japan during the period of economic growth, but also a critic theory of the society analyzed from an
architectural perspective. Logically, with the development of the culture of the society, that reflected key
issues discussed in Japan, regarding the architectural theories: the attention to the specific Japanese culture as
well as the receptivity towards the Western culture and it use to create new models suitable for the features of
Japanese culture and society. As noted by Japanese writer Toru Terada, during the 60s, there were several
cultural and economical conditions that could promoted the development of a new design and futuristic
architectures in Japan as well as in the whole world. Especially in Japan, some vital issues such as the
diffusion of a social architecture for the masses who converged from suburb into the large metropolises
(hospitals, gymnasiums, offices, hotels). However, the fast transformation of the original rural society to a
mass society, the big investments operated by capitalist power (above all financial and building companies)
aimed to gain high profits in the future, fostering in the same time. On the other side, the development of
information networks for the publication and spread of news and information on the latest trend in the
design and art, which aroused the interest of the people toward the creativity of the architect-artist, were
fundamental into the spread of a new taste and sensibility in architecture. In addition, the growth of
economic prosperity was developed by the big industrial companies in the field of the technology, by means
of the new materials and the improvement of the civil engineering. Hence, all of these elements caused
improvement of contemporary Japanese architecture in the 60s.8

Since Metabolism first appearance at World Design Conference in Tokyo, Metabolism’s architectural and
urban projects were sensitive to the irregularity of space and functions. On the other side, they were
opponent to the sense of immobility of fixed forms and functions of conventional modernist design and
severely critical of the principles of Athens’s Chart (statically based on zoning and master plan) as basic tools

7 (Hiroyuki Suzuki, and Reyner Banham, and Katsuhiro Kobayas 1984, 6)

8 (Raffaele 2007, 11-29)

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to control the design of the modern city. In addition, they always emphasize on the issues of the artificial
landand the mass housing solutions, as the main concerns of Japanese city at that moment. With few
exceptions, the Metabolists extended the doctrines and the method of architectural design and composition
to urban design, considering the development of the city by means of the repetition of industrial components
and the usage of modular parts, which supposed organic forms.
The main feature of Metabolist approach to urban design was basically the refusal of the old-style form of
public urban spaces (squares, streets, neighborhoods) for an artificial public spaces. Trying to show the
strength and the creative spirit of the modern postwar society, the Metabolists used the new technological
devices, and perceived a city whose urban architectures was made by megastructures which denied any visual
connection with the preexisting urban milieu and showed indifference to the context. However, their urban
system had not any noticeable clue of the proper order of the traditional city (either Japanese or Western) and
the memory of the recent history of Japan, could not be felt as well as its urban environment.9
The new forms of emerged in architecture during those years were related to the general trend for
Deformation so typical among the Japanese people in the postwar years. The artists refused the
reconstruction of the world as it was before because it seemed unfair so that they rejected the pre-war
models. In architecture, the modification of the models followed the same tendency such as art, approving
wish for the revolution as the main factor of the culture of the renovation years. From this point of view,
Metabolism was an architectural movement which was characteristic of a general milieu of restoration and
withdrawal from the previous cultural and artistic beliefs, whose crisis were totally clear also in the Western
countries, and was perceptive of the new guidelines of the contemporary culture.

Chance of Great Design

One of the most famous Metabolist project was
Tokyo Bay by Kenzo Tange. In addition, Kisho
Kurokawa and Arata Isozaki worked on the
project with Tange, among others who were not
part of the inner Metabolist group. This project
excluded as dysfunctional the plan proposed for
Tokyo in 1956 on the prototype of Abercrombie
and Forshaw’s plan for London, which predicted
a main part and the city growing according to
radial pattern.

Figure2: Kenzo Tange, Tokyo

Bay (1960) with Kisho Kurokawa and
Arata Isozaki, (Meike 2014)

9 (Raffaele 2007, 94-120)

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“Tange’s organization consisted of a linear spine-like element made of layered systems of intersecting
infrastructural cycles on different scales, which extended from Tokyo center, eighteen kilometers across
Tokyo Bay, in the form of a ‘civic axis’ as he called it.” 10 Tange had worked on several cities urban plans after
the world-war II. However, the background to this plan was that through fast industrialization, Tokyo city
was at the time already on the edge of having ten million dwellers, experiencing a huge investment, and
expecting an incredible change of the cityscape. It meant the formation of new communication systems was
an important challenge. After while they would become to main significant reason in growth of metropolis
where mobility was the essential individual needs. Henceforth, terms of a characteristic of a new open society
as a tool for alteration was the main subject of Tange’s discussion about the communication.
Consequently, Tange thought, it was crucial to reflect on the nature of urban structures that would permit
development and change. Biological processes in nature became the general concept for organizing the new
development. In this moment, Tange said:
What he said
“In terms of the growth process of organic bodies, at an early stage, an egg has a central core. Ultimately,
however, this core develops into a spine, which breaks the shell making possible a shift to a new growth
phase. In vertebrates, a spine is essential for the transmission of information through the nervous system
from the brain to the spine. When applying this line of thought to Tokyo, it becomes obvious that the
clinging to the concept of a civic center makes further development hopeless. As a model, we were exploring
what happened when we extended a spine from the civic center across Tokyo Bay. I called this a civic axis. In
addition, rising land prices in Tokyo made new developments over the sea feasible.”11 In its idealistic target,
the Tokyo plan is similar to Le Corbusier’s 1922 Ville Contemporaine for Paris, a city of three million
residents, because of its symbolic shapes, and to Hilberseimer’s Groszstadt Architektur of 1927 in its
organizational concentration.
The most well known Project of Kurokawa’s capsule concept
tower and one of the first comprehension of modularization
idea for real use was in the project of “Nakagin Tower” in
1972. The capsule tower is situated in the Ginza area of
Tokyo, a densely populated business zone. The tower was
originally considered as a Capsule Hotel to provide
inexpensive housing for businesspersons who work till late in
Central Tokyo during the week (which Kurokawa look at
them as a contemporary users of architecture). For these new
users kurokawa designed prefabricated capsule measuring 2.5
x 2.5 x 4 meters (building was supposed to hold 140 capsules).
Kurokawa planned that each of the unit could be replaced at
any point of tower causing no disruption to the rest of the
module. Each unit was supposed to work for 25 years and
after that would be upgraded with flexible structure with 200
years as a life span.12
Figure3: Nakagin Tower by Kurokawa, (Stewart 1989)

10 (Meike 2014, 287)

11 (Meike 2014, 288)
12 (Solomon 2007)

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Structure of Nakagin Tower works exactly such as trees, in the way that vertical cores represent permanent
component, with the residence units as leaves of tree- temporary parts, which could be upgraded and renewed
based on the needs of the moment. From Aesthetic point of view, it is similar to living beings that lives,
breathes and changes during the time. However, the main problem is that in spirit it does not work, as it is
alive and the kurokawa’s tree idea is not the problem, but the leaves are. Although Kurokawa thought about
the technology to install the capsule units into a concrete core with four high-tension bolts but these capsules
were never refabricated again. The reason was that the process of changing capsules units would be too
complex, difficult and extremely expensive, because the capsules can be taken apart from the center beam, it
means only from the top and not the bottom. For that reason, Nakagin Tower stays just as an idea, a symbol
and a landmark of metabolism concept, but not the real functioning Metabolist architecture.

Resilience as a notion of national identity

The first idea that shaped after Metabolism in relation to ecosystems was Resilience; also, it became key word
in existing urbanism in set of environmental, economic, and social crisis. Yet, resilience is regularly talked in
environmental and technical conditions and frequently disregards social and cultural implications. Resilience
is related to the ability of systems to adapt under alteration; therefore, it also recommends potential to
reconsideration theory and generates new systems. “Although the term was not in use when Metabolism was
introduced to the international design community at the World Design Conference in Tokyo, 1960, the
conceptual take of the Metabolists is that of resilient urbanism in technical, socio-ecological, and cultural
terms.”13 A resilient society proposes its methodical spatial improvement to achieve a stability between
change and preservation as cited in the design of different life cycle of infrastructures and individual cell, and
of enduring and flexible parts of the urban system.
Beside Metabolism`s impact on the Japanese architectural community, it had a conclusive influence on
western architecture and urban design. The world design conference presented new urban subjects and
turned itself into opportunity in a place that culture differences were discussed in relation to the western
discussion. Understanding of Japanese culture identity differs from western models, although, Metabolism
attempted for new models, conditions and images that could be used more commonly, not limited in japan,
noticed by the end of International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CAIM). With biological language,
Metabolists Connected traditional models with historic and universal pattern. Therefore, they created a
context for international communication. Simultaneously, their way of thinking about nature and the organic
fields, were accepted by westerns as a stereotype of Japan that can be known earlier in Frank Loyd Wright`s
and Bruno Taut`s organic projections. At the same time, with Metabolism concept, the symbolic image
of that presents the city as a structure, organization, and movement, a coherent whole in constant
changes.

Japan Olympic Games 1964

The 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games was unique occasion to validate its national revival from destruction of war,
and its return to international community. In addition, it was a platform for Metabolist architects to show
their new concepts in real projects. However, the Japanese government had stress because of the importance
of empowering the economy, thus the improvement of the industrial system became the so important and the
continuous development of the production became a kind of significant work of the entire Japanese

13 (Meike 2014, 281)

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population. Olympic construction required massive groundwork, the Japanese government gave this chance
to foster officials, architects, planners to build new required infrastructure for example streets, expressways,
monorails, swerves and water supply plants. They need improvement of existing infrastructure to redesign the
image of the Tokyo. Hence, the main task for the government was to present Tokyo in its best possible way
and this goal increase the public support for alternative planning application for Tokyo.14
The Olympic Games in 1964 stimulates international architects and critics to pay attention to Japanese
architecture again and in this situation, the article written by Nietchke endorsed the Metabolism as a
movement whose new ideas were closely tied with the Japanese culture and traditions. Another German
critic, Udo Kultermann published an article in 1967 about projects of Tange’s ull and Metabolist group
researches. Then Paolo Riani, a former colleague of Tange who hold an exhibition of Metabolist projects in
Florence, Italy in 1969. The megastructural tendency and the matter of utopian projects according to
industrialization and modern technologies were always interesting subjects for publications and Metabolism
was mentioned in many books. Hence, Japan became for every architect as one the leader in hyper-
technological country in world, because of emphasizing the technological and having new ideas about urban
projects and generally Metabolist is kind of image of the future. Japanese architecture also considered as a
total artificial urban environment made of steel, concrete and glass with modern engineering and electronic
systems.
In the early 60s, a main motivation for the proposal of large-scale projects for Olympic Games was the
considering the city as hosting of the Summer Olympic Games to be held in 1964. The main aim of the
central government policy was to present Tokyo in the best situation and this goal gained the public support
for another planning proposal for Tokyo, proposed in 1960 and released in 1961, by Kenzo Tange. This Plan
at the same time proposed to prepare the city for Olympic Games and resolve all its problems. Furthermore,
Tange designed two separated buildings for this Olympic Games which have same style in material and form.
They are fixed on large pedestrian courtyard that prepare access on two levels for athletes and audiences and
it had a nice connection to public
transportation.15
The Main building is the larger one; it was
designed to have roof for the Olympic
swimming pool for 15,000 people. The
length of this building is around 150
meters and enclose area of 20,620 square
meters. The roof with its great
comprehensive slopes, dominates the
design, providing an influential and
sensitive form, which remains in the
mind. The Small building of Gymnasium,
with capacity of 4,000 people included
tennis, basketball court and conference
rooms.
Figure 4: Main Gymnasium Builing by Kenzo Tange (Coaldrake 1996)

14 (Coaldrake 1996, 256-265)

15 (Raffaele 2007, 84)

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Tange`s Buildings were an extraordinary accomplishment in term of the interaction among structure and
visual sense, technology and tradition. The building forms encircle an Olympic people and events, the
demand to express structural logic in appealing form, and the wish to come to relations with national
tradition.

Osaka Expo 1970

In 1970, Japan was chosen as the host for World exposition in Senri Hills in Osaka. Although japan wanted
to host this event in 1940 but it was cancelled with starting the war. One million ticket were sold in 1940 but
nobody could use it until the committee announced that people who bought ticket in 1940 could use it after
30 years for Osaka Expo in 1970.16
Kenzo Tange was one the architects who joined the committee for the event and with help of Uso Nishiyama
was responsible for Master plan of Osaka`s Site. The Theme that they chose was “progress and Harmony for
Mankind”. More than twelve architects invited, including Arata isozaki, Otaka and kikutake for designing
distinct basic parts. Tange also asked Ekuan and Kwazoe to manage the Furniture design and transportation
and create Mid-Air Exhibition.
Kenzo Tange planned that this event should be considered as a big event, the place that people could meet
each other. He located Festival Plaza in center of the site, which was well connected all the parts, all of which
unified below a massive roof. The subject for Tange’s project, Tokyo Bay, addressed the living body that have
two different kind of information transmission systems:
fluid and electronic. In connection to the city, that
project used that knowledge of tree chest and branches
that may take out those types of transmission.
International architects, Kawazoe, Maki and Kurokawa
had invited a selection of world architects to design
displays for the Mid-Air Exhibition that was to be
combined within the roof. Koli Kamaya and Mamoru
Kwaguchi designed the roof and they conceived it as a
massive space frame. A Free-Welding Ball Joint method
was invented by Kawaguchi to safely divide the load.
They also located Kikutake`s Expo Tower on the highest
hill and it was to present as a landmark for people who
visit the Expo. The tower built as vertical ball and joint
space and it conceived attached series of cabins.
Kurokawa was set to direct for two commercial
pavilions: The Takara Beautillion and the Toshiba
pavilion.

Figure 4: Kikutake's Osaka Expo Tower, 1970 (Raffaele 2007)

Osaka Expo was the last united determination of group Metabolist. Tange was Qualified with his Master plan
for Osaka Expo, and after that all the architects from Metabolist started to work as individuals in their works.

16 (Koolhaas Rem 2011, 506-507)

10
However, Frank Loyd Wright, who was under influence of Louis Sullivan, regularly called nineteen century
fisrt American Modern architect, used the term Organic architecture, which was the idea of Metabolist.

Conclusion
This study analyzed the crucial events and important people of contemporary Japanese architecture after
destructive world war two, which was the reason of destroying the main cities in japan. However, after peace
occurred, japan begin the improvement of all the subdivisions of infrastructure, which needed to reconstruct,
but new reconstruction needed a new beginning. For this purpose, Japanese architects started to hold
different international seminars and conferences to familiarize to western architecture. Later, japan begin to
express its own architecture to the whole world and it was visible in the shape of new international style
Metabolist that was the beginning of new style of architecture, construction and urban design, which
addressed as an example in this paper. In addition, after stabilizing its position as a new style, Japanese
architects started to work on real scale projects that in this paper we mentioned two noticeable projects of
them; one, Japan Olympic Game in 1964 and another one Expo Osaka in 1970.
As result, after more than half a century, Japanese architecture still is considered as an avant-garde
architecture that look for new challenges in different aspects of architecture. In different functions, still can
be found new solutions in Japanese architecture and it is not something related to the term “contemporary”,
but something related to its roots in Metabolist architecture which always looked for new solutions. The
architecture of the world always owes the Japanese avant-garde architects.

11
Bibliography
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Hiroyuki Suzuki. and Reyner Banham, and Katsuhiro Kobayas. 1984. Contemporary Architecture of Japan 1958-
1984. New York: Rizzoli.
Kokie, Shinjin, and Hamaguchi Ryuichi. 1956. Japan new architecture. Tokyo: The Shokokusha Co.
Koolhaas Rem. and Obrist Hans U. 2011. Project Japan: Metabolism Talks... London: Taschen.
Lin, Zhongjie. 2010. Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan. New York:
Routledge.
Raffaele, Pernice. 2007. Metabolist Movement between Tokyo Bay Planning and Urban Utopias in the Years of Rapid
Economic Growth 1958-1964. Tokyo: Waseda University Graduate School of Science and Engineering.
Ross, Michael F. 1978. Beyond Metabolism: New Japanese Architecture. New York: A McGraw-Hill publication.
Stewart, David B. 1989. The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture: From the Founders to Shinohara and Isozaki.
Tokyo: Kodansha International.

Journal articles:
Meike, Schalk. 2014. The Architecture of Metabolism, Inventing a Culture of Resilience. Arts 279-297.
Solomon, Yuki. 2007. Kurokawa’s Capsule Tower to Be Razed. Architectural Record 195.

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