The exterior of the Nakagin Capsule Tower as it appeared in 2015

Pictures Reveal Life Inside Tiny Futuristic Cubes
Built in 1972, the Nakagin Capsule Tower was the benchmark of Japan’s post-war economic boom. Now, its future is uncertain.

On the outskirts of Tokyo’s posh Ginza district stands Nakagin Capsule Tower, an unusual structure that once held Japan’s vision for the future.
The building was designed by Kisho Kurokawa, a pioneer of the “metabolist” architectural ambition—a 1960’s movement that emphasized the idea of buildings as dynamic and adaptable to a fast-paced, continually evolving cityscape of the future.
From the outside, the tower looks like a stack of laundry machines. It is comprised of two concrete cores, 11 and 13 stories high, onto which are attached “removeable” cubes. Each cube, measuring 107 square feet, was prefabricated in a factory and then attached to the cores using 4 high-tension bolts. These capsule rooms, as they are called, are furnished with basic appliances and a bathroom the size of an airplane lavatory.

The building was built in 1972 in just 30 days. Kurokawa envisioned this building as the dawn of a new age.
Instead, Nakagin Capsule Tower became a utopia never realized. The capsules, planned for a 25-year lifespan, proved too costly to replace. The tower now stands as an anachronism in the midst of the more practical buildings that have sprung up around it.