METABOLISM MOVEMENT

DEVELOPEMENT AND ITS APPLICABLE SOLUTIONS FOR

SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE NOWADAYS

`

POLITECNICO DI MILANO - ARCHITETTURA E SOCIETA 2012 / 2013

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE IN THE CONTEMPORARY AGE

Paula Pecina

METABOLISM MOVEMENT

DEVELOPEMENT AND ITS APPLICABLE SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE

ARCHITECTURE NOWADAYS

POLITECNICO DI MILANO - ARCHITETTURA E SOCIETA’ 2012 / 2013

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE IN THE CONTEMPORARY AGE

Profesor: Garcia Vazquez Carlos Gabriel

By: Pecina Paula

Introduction

Abstract

Metabolism- could it be an answer to the

today’s arising problems. Thinking of the

cities as an organism that are growing,

adapting, changing shape and form, this is

approach, that I would like to analyse in

my research, backing it up with new

sustainable approach available

nowadays.

Identification of the topic

Utopian futuristic visions representation in

Japanese context - Metabolism How we

can learn from it? - Impact analysis for

urban planning in terms of today’s

environmental challenges, scarce

resources, and economic crisis. As all that

calls for unconventional alternative

approach worth considering.

Objective

Analyse, how future/upcoming urban

systems can be designed to be

consistently more environment friendly.

From the Meiji époque, trough utopian

1960-ies to contemporary times, and then

basing on the popular nowadays

sustainability concept and romantic

approach, set of principles for a metabolic

evaluation of the processes of

transformation of city-regions.

Keywords:

metabolism, sustainability, urban planning,

futuristic city, development

Methodology

Evaluation of the urban development

process in Japan, based on Tokyo case

study. The Metabolic movement impact

analysis is proposed, to identify its main

influences and the ideas that could be re-

used nowadays.

This dissertation is based on qualitative

research and empirical quantitative

methodologies. Most of the data in the

report is provided by books and articles.

Some of the information found in the

research is based on my own experience

travelling and working in Asia, analysis and

interviews, added in the end of this paper.

Delimitations

This dissertation provides information on

Japanese urban culture, through the

traditional style, to today’s state, all of this

information in the research has been

complied to the best of my knowledge,

being from the European background.

It is based on the information provided in

the literature, articles and interviews, it

excludes any liability. All rights to the

photographs are property of

photographer

No Urban structure?

“Japanese cities are like villages that have

grown naturally from the power of nature”

Arata Isozaki

After 200 years of cultural isolation, came the time of Meiji revolution, which introduced the

new way of thinking called: ’fukoku kyōhei – meaning “Enrich the country, strengthen the

military” top reserve national security, and ’bunmei kaika, civilisation and enlightenment to

revise the unequal treaties in the society after Samurai oligarchy class ruling. Thanks to that

new ideology many Japanese students were exposed to Western type of thinking and

educated in the new way. New style for architecture and engineering was introduced,

where the main objective was to learn the culture of cities, technology and wealth, as were

not seen in Japan until till then. Japan underwent a period of intense change in order to

compete with other developed countries The objectives for new city planning, remodelling

and modernisation by building new industrial infrastructures, creating new Western-like city

centres.

Fig.1. City structure of Western city-Paris vs. Organic City structure of Japanese city

European cites posses a structure and have little connection with nature, whereas Japanese

cities followed the natural landscape. This idea is derived from the Japanese belief that

Human and nature are one and the same, so they have to interact for a perfect harmony.

Initially architects and forms from abroad were imported to Japan but gradually the country

taught its own architects and began to express its own style. Architects returning from study

overseas started up the International Style of modernism into Japan.

After those changes, it was possible to incorporate new architecture and European planning

strategies. We can best see that, on the example of city of Kyoto. It incorporated the new

urban development in checkerboard planning system of 109 m x 109 m blocks, in comparison

to organic, historical city tissue of Tokyo (fig.2).

Fig.2. Example of Western urban pattern in Kyoto (a) compared to organic form of Tokyo (b)

The Traditional & Sukiya

Fig.3. Traditional lake house vs. Cityscape

Features of traditional structures in Japan are based on connection with nature,

incorporation into landscape, but what we call a “Japanese architectural style” would be

shoin-zukuri of Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo eras, a style dating from XVI century. Its main

features are use of clean form, sloping roof, latticed windows, yuka raised floor, kura-zukuri

yands and supporting square timber pillars, on top of stone foundation.

In XIX century interesting experiments emerged by

reinterpreting traditional Japanese architecture, with

the newer styles, with the precursors as Isoya Yoshida

the new idea was set up - Sukiya . It was combining

modernism with traditional Japanese architecture,

the tatami mats on the floor, a wooden structure and

multilayered wall sliding next to concrete structures

and modular forms.

Modern architecture in Japan

How did the new modern architecture corresponds to the Japanese mentality? Japan at this

point a way already was modern, by its newly gained approach and rebelling against

Samurai’s class, they gradually drifted away from the tradition. Started to drew from other

cultures and its modernism is highly rooted in American or European one. With

reflection on the essence of Japan society. Due to the fact that they never used exceed of

ornament, piazzas, fountain and style itself was a clean in form , the transition was quite

smooth. Newly arising architects wanted to express own opinion about the current state of

Japanese culture, to modernize it, adding a spice of technological thinking. That is why since

the end of the nineteenth century, we have examples of change in architecture of Japan,

but after each wave of Western fascination came stages, for reflection on their own roots.

Some examples f a modern architecture of the time could be and the one by the foreign

arcgitects as an Le Corbusier’s National Museum of Western Art.

Fig.5. Example of Modern Architecture in Japan, National Museum of Western Art

City of Tokyo

Tokyo was destroyed and rebuilt several times. In the twentieth century, twice: in 1923 a fire

after the earthquake the strength of 8.3 on the Richter scale destroyed two thirds of Tokyo. At

the end of World War II, the city was completely destroyed by U.S. carpet-bombing, which

killed about 200,000 people, more than in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic bombing.

At the time the Tokyo population increases dramatically from 3.5 million in 1945 to 9.5 million in

1960, and despite the fact that from 1945 arrive 4,650,000, housing shortages continue to

reach more than two million. Throughout the country, only 25% of the area is suitable for

development, the rest of the mountains and water. The government, newly democratic

wonders even on birth control. At that time, it also changes the social structure, arrives

educated people, the number of students over the decades, doubles.

Fig.6.&7. Phases of the Post-war Japanese Development

Main purpose of postwar reconstruction was to catch up with North American and European

industrial economies in technological, household and the government sectors. A main

problem, at the time, was the shortage of savings. The government created a system for

rapid economic development, the so-called ‘Japanese style market system ’ was

established, which emphasized building long-running relationships between economic

agents. Stable relationships were built on a economical enhancement, together with active

public policies. The factor that was helping in the regeneration of that time, was work of great

architects and then with theoretical movements like Metabolism.

The position of a city in hierarchy of world importance is not a static phenomenon, it shifted

depending on the times. Now, after the short introduction of Tokyo and Japanese culture,

which was crucial for understanding the main topic of the research- Metabolism- where it

came from and how it developed. To search for the reason behind the resurfacing of the

interest in Metabolism, we would go through its story.

Beginnings of Metabolism

Metabolism was the name of a group of Japanese art and architecture actively operating in

the 1960-1975 period, the name was taken from the Greek word "Metabol", meaning-"the

ceaseless transformation of all that convertibility". This concept was grasped and translated

into language of architecture. The unquestioned authority and leader for the movement

Kenzo Tange San, first known for his project Peace Center in Hiroshima,a city utterly destroyed

in the II WW bombing, he worked on it with Arata Izosaki.

Fig.8. Re-ruined Hiroshima, project, Hiroshima, Japan

Hiroshima's projects' was as the beginning of reconstructional architectural and urban design

determinant and basing on Tabula rasa concept.

“...When we saw our national land turned into scorched earth with sporadic burnt concrete

structures, we had a dream and hope of drawing a new city as if over a blank white sheet’.

With a figure such as Shimokobe interfacing between politicians, businessmen and architects,

this dream was at least partly realisable, facilitating a ‘historically rare confluence of avant-

garde and government”

Kenzo Tange

Thanks to the movement, the new utopian visions of future cities were created, where flexible

and expandable structures evoked the processes of organic growth. The traditional laws of

structure, fixed form and function were obsolete and replaced with new idea of growth.

Popular architecture and nature organic references become sources of inspiration that show

the weakening of machine paradigm and distrust of the intrinsic laws and technical progress.

Fig.9. Metabolistic approach housing projects

Gradually, the metaphorical language of the machine is replaced by the metaphorical

language of the organic. Metabolism proper was, however, derived from concept of “cities

transformed into radioactive rubble” in the wake of the second world war, and emerged as

part of a mission to rebuild and radically transfigure the nation as a whole. Bringing together

government planning with newly-created private and corporate structures, these architects

channelled a unique post-apocalyptic will to produce collective forms of planning in which

architecture’s fundamental relationship to the urban plan, as in Mega structures.

Architectural thinking that made a virtue of its distance from the top down approach for

state planning, celebrating instead the flexible, self-organised and nomadic re-inventing of

space.

Fig.10. Under the guidance of Kenzo

Tange, the architects Takashi Asada,

Kisho Kurokawa, Kiyonori Kikutake, and

critic Noboru Kawazoe met often and

discussed the direction of Japanese

architecture and urbanism. That gave the

beginning of movement.

The official emerged of the movement, took place at World Design Conference in Tokyo, by

the manifesto Metabolism 1960: Proposals for a New Urbanism. It introduces activities

that were vigorously developed, from urban concepts to public buildings and

housing, which proposed a futuristic lifestyle of living in for example capsules, or sky

cities, prefabricated housing. Attempting to industrialize architecture and develop

self-building.

The movement tried combining simplicity of the international style of the converging trends of

traditional Japanese architecture. Metabolists designed a utopian city based on the

assumptions of Marxism and appropriate to the vision of an ideal society. It responded to

urgent problems like the sudden increase in population and expansion of cities by proposing

large-scale architecture and urban planning that would continue to change in form

organically.

The proposals come in response to the lack of urban planning in Japan. One thinks of ocean

cities. The exaltation structure is brought to the scale of the city. In this technological fanfare

predominate in halls. A giant square mesh covered with a lattice structure, is the first

expression for the booming world of Japanese modernization. The general layout of the set

was made by Tange. Along with appearing technological fanfare symbolic and traditional

Japanese gardens and

artificial lakes Buildings

proposed by them were to

be placed hierarchically

and visually refer to the

appearance of the trees

or fractal, main

distinguishing feature was

the repetition of the same

elements of varying sizes

to resemble self-similar

forms created by nature

and showed the beauty of

the infinite detail.

Fig.11. Clusters in the air

They tried to organize urban visions through the use of the components involved with the

space outside the buildings, to combine modern architecture, the past and their present,

East and West, art and technology. A strong relationship was also created towards the trend

of science-fiction movies. The scope of these changes is determined cosmos.

Fig.12. Kenzo Tanges’ Plan for Tokyo

Tokyo area at that time did not exceed 622 m2, Tokyo Bay,over which there is a city - 922 m2.

Therefore, construction of the water and the air seemed the simplest and most effective

solution. Kenzo Tange's 1960 plan for Tokyo was proposed as an alternative way of

development. After the war he continued to work. The resulting, among other things Islands:

Shin-Kiba, Tatsumi, Heiwajima, Katsushima, Yashio. For new sites are located with different

functions: residential, office, sports and recreation as Oi racecourse or Kasairinkai park.

Prepared vision of development of the great axes across the Gulf might seem like a big

utopia, now finally, this idea seems to be close to realization, though in a slightly different

form. Watershed land-use in the process was the construction of Tokyo Bay Rinkai - a

residential and commercial Odaiba-Ariake, with some exaggeration advertised as "new

downtown Tokyo.

In the project he attempted to impose a new physical order on Tokyo, which would

accommodate the city's continued expansion and internal, regeneration. The design

concept was based on longitudinal, linear series of interlocking loops expanding across the

Tokyo Bay. Then the individual islands, are connected by a network of tunnels and bridges,

rail, including even the highway. The expansions of the area of the Gulf, still carried out in the

form of managing many open spaces on the formed islands and create new ones. Analogy

between the flow of traffic and the flow of the river under a new analysis of the movement

patterns of a large metropolitan city.

Fig.13. New Tokyo Bay Project

The idea of crossing the centripetal system of linear development, by finding a means to

bring the structure of the city transport system and urban architecture in the organic unity. An

investigation of the subsequent debates surrounding this plan, however, demonstrates that

the way Tange approached these concepts was symbolic rather than practical, an

orientation also manifest in his later works. His vision for establishing a new spatial order for the

continuously expanding and transforming metropolis became the ultimate utopian ideal.

It was a time when many cities in the industrial world were experiencing the height of urban

sprawl. With a unique insight into the emerging characteristics, of the contemporary city and

an optimistic faith in the power of design. In explanation of the concept of the “New Tokyo

Bay Project” Kenzo Tange uses words like ‘cell’ and ‘metabolism', in the way they were never

used before, that was a turning point for Japanese planning, later on being reflected upon

as starting poin for the decade-long mega structural movement. Its theoretical contribution

to contemporary urbanism, however, remains understudied. Through an in-depth analysis on

the Tokyo plan, this essay studies Tange "s city theories in terms of both their domestic context

and international influence.

Urban structuring

Tange was the forerunner, by initiated the plan for Tokyo and his interpretation of the

characteristics of what he called the world's "pivotal cities". They were supposed to be the

ones, with populations of ten million or more. From his point of view, such cities, were in a

state of confusion and paralysis because the physical structures of the cities had "grown too

old to cope with the current rate of expansion," and the only way to save the Tange

contended that the pilotis and core system could be used in the expansion of new city areas

and in redeveloping the existing. Its main purpose was to replace the traditional two

dimensional zone of the planning methods generative system, which allows impact

characteristic of modem society that can develop freely. That was the beginning of Mega-

structures. The new urban concepts that he expressed in his work, such as mobility, urban

structure, linear civic axis, and city as process, were getting more and more recognition.

Tange incorporated these conceptions into architecture and tried to find a new relationship

between the whole and the part, and between the permanent and the transient.

Parallel to Mega-structures concept some other ideas were emerging, most of them

connected to the Team X. Developed by architects like Louis Kahn or Peter and Alison

Smithson, who followed the anti-zoning position and emphasis on urban communication. For

instance Kahn accepted traffic as the generator of the design, suggested this might be more

than a mechanical necessity in fig project for Philadelphia. There the diagram of circulation,

gave visual form to the traffic and became the departure point of the plan, making the

society number one consideration in the design.

External growth means that the organization of the city is conceived as a kind of man-made

nature or as a system on the basis of which the spatial structure could develop freely. Internal

regeneration means that the components of the system, that is, architecture, are flexible and

can adapt to changes while the system as a whole maintains its quality. The key to

establishing such a system is through differentiating objects whose cycle of change is slow

from those objects in cycles of more rapid change and evolution.

Kikutake- the great Metabolist

The surface of Japan is difficult to build on because of its tectonic instability, because it is 75

percent mountainous, and because the flat parts are prone to flooding and tsunamis; after

the reform law, it became politically tainted as well. Kikutake would spend his life designing

other surfaces upon which to build instead—on the land, on the sea, and in the air. Kikutake

was following the idea of the three-step principle for architecture, inspired by nuclear physics:

ka, kata, katachi, meaning essence, substance &phenomenon. He called these surfaces

“artificial ground.” Kikutake designed a floating city made up of cylindrical towers, which are

suspended residential cabins that look like nests on the tree.

Fig.14. Kikutake’s projects

More than capsules or organic metaphors of regeneration for buildings and cities, it is the

idea of artificial ground that binds together the disparate work of the Metabolists.

After constructing housing for war widows and their families out of wood and brick salvaged

from fire-bombed buildings. Kikutake completed his own house- The Sky House in 1958.

Fig.15.Sky house

It became a laboratory for testing theories of artificial ground and adaptation on his family. A

building raising on 4 concrete pillars, hovers above Tokyo, metaphorically free of its dangers

and its new rules. As an organic creation- it grew together with Kikutake’s family, the

capsules, or as an architect called them, the “move-nets,” were plugged into the exposed

space under the main structure of the house to accommodate new children. Kikutake later

on reflected that the move-nets were not that perfect, being too small and stifled the

children’s activity, or at the occasion of an Europeans friends’ visit, he couldn’t have fit in the

narrow stairway into the capsule. Sky House became a hub for various architectural circle, for

example hosted an impromptu all-night conversation between Louis Kahn and his Japanese

counterparts.

“The Sky House was the reason I became an architect.”

Kazuyo Sejima

Fig. 16&17 Kisho Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Rower (1972), an ‘icon of Metabolism’.

According to metabolism was to built so that

architecture could be susceptible to

transformation of the space. A perfect

example of this trend is the high-rise

residential architectural Nagakin in Tokyo,

Kisho Kurokawa designed by. He was a

visionary and believed that architecture

should be revised, as well as human life and

the entire biosphere. As he believed the

architecture should be changed as well as

and l human lifestyle or the entire biosphere.

The city is constantly in motion, the function

of various places can be changed, where

was the shop yesterday, tomorrow there

could be a bank. Kurokawa built according

to the principles of organic change. Like in

one of his design for Tokyo, compiled f two

towers, to which the various parts are pinned

on capsules. Its assumption was that the

company, which just sends an employee to

Tokyo, bought the capsule, and after end of

contract employee could move to Osaka,

going there together with the capsule.

Urban metabolism considers a city as a system and distinguishes between energy and

material flows. A top‐down approaches that assess the inputs and outputs of food, water,

energy, etc. from a city, or that compare the metabolic process of several cities. In contrast,

bottom‐up approaches are based on quantitative estimates of urban metabolism

components at local scale, considering the urban metabolism and transformation of energy

and matter between a city and its environment

Fig.18. The expression with aim to vision a continuous development and mutation of a vital

process and technology

Arata Isozaki, was never officially called a

metabolist, but he was strongly connected

with the movement, which is morrowed in

his projects, plus he was a student of Tange

and worked with him on numerous

occasions, for example at Skopje master

plan. He designed the gigantic structure

replacement on the current Tokyo.

Fig.19. A classic example of the

architecture of metabolic-like work,

suspended on a steel cabin frame, which

can be easily disassembled, Arata Isozaki

Fig.20.Incubation Process, part of the 4 core joint system, showing Isozaki's City in the Air

The first Starchitects

After big and publicized, projects with tubular towers ,capsules which plug like leaves, which

were, in the eyes of Metablists necessities for an overcrowded planet on the edge of disaster.

Not necessarily in the eyes of society, metabolists started attracting an inordinate amount of

media attention. Tange, for instance, presented his “Plan for Tokyo 1960″ in a special program

on NHK (Japan’s national public broadcasting organization), and Kisho Kurokawa was

featured on countless weekly fashion magazines and regularly appeared on NHK programs

for more than fifteen years. This attitude created a new vision to architect in the society,

giving the profession a range of a rock star, or as we tend to say it nowadays a “Starchitect”.

Avant-garde visions in conservative Japan

The new culture and lifestyles appeared and 1960-ies were a turning point in Japan's

transition to a consumer and information society. Before, interaction was stimulated among

different fields of art, centred on the concept of environment.

Fig. 20. “Garage no parking” Fig. 21.Japanese “pop-art”

Metabolism movement was like Japan's avant-there are obvious relation between urban

regeneration and the art of the time. Work of the architects was mirrored on a smaller scale

by Tokyo's art community. Simultaneously to the changes at the city scale, new art was

created, the new vision, perform activities, human figure and its formal, transformative

possibilities through installations- used by new age Japanese artists. What the metabolists

tackled on a large-scale, the artists were engaged with on a more face-to-face level. A

good example is found in Yamaguchi Katsuhiro's Work, showcased at From Space to

Environment in 1966 and introduced in this section. As well as works of Kiyoshi Awazu's graphic

designs, which were Eastern responses to arising Western popular art.

Fig. 22& 23 Japanese 60-ies art

It as well has been reflected and found in perspective of cities and buildings. Those times

brought into focus the entire wisdom of the movement and are still thought of today as the

epitome of futuristic cities.

End of movement

Group stayed strong only for few years , but projects of individual members of the group, still

after many years since its inception, bore the stigma of the movement and expressed a

similar message. Later on the time was described as period of architecture bringing

"techniques of humanism”, “last time where the human was as a priority”, or "architecture of

symbiosis". As this movement emerged in coincidence with the rapid growth and expansion

of the economic society, it has become a thing of a past in the present. It gives the sense of

a biological inevitability. If you look at the work of Kurokawa for instance, he seems to read

Metabolism not as a linear push for ever bigger and larger projects, but more as an ability to

transform at the biological level.

Japan experiencing economic boom and this was reflected in dramatic development

projects in Tokyo. The concept of 'world city' was used at this time to legitimise such

development. The times were changing together with the architect’s role in the society.

Although Tokyo was widely regarded as one of the top three 'world cities', the argument is

supported that it retained many national characteristics, partly based on its location in a

developmental state. Osaka Expo brought into focus the entire wisdom of the movement,

and this wisdom has been handed down. The City of the Future from an architectural

perspective, the art, design, of the same period is showcased. Great surnames started to be

recognised all over the world, from Isozaki, who produced the environment of the Festival

Plaza, Yamaguchi Katsuhiro, Ichiyanagi Toshi, Tomatsu Shomei, and Awazu Kiyoshi.

Why Metabolism today? Which of its aspects can we see as valuable?

After Expo '70 in Osaka and international recognition, connected with crisis in Japan,

meaning lack of work, the metabolists started to design overseas. That gave way to large,

city scale projects, such as Tange's s Reconstruction Plan for Skopje City Centre following the

earthquake in the Macedonian capital of 1963, where the whole structure of the city was

bound together with the symbolic concepts of "city gate" and "city wall. Through the

metaphor of a city with its traditional elements, Tange hoped to endow the city of misfortune

with a new order, enable it to communicate with people, and help it regain its vitality and

meaning. For him, giving symbolic significance to the operation of structuring is useful both in

developing a design inward and in making the design more comprehensible.

Fig. 24 Skopje master plan Fig.25. Skopje master plan model

The internationalisation of the movement, after the oil crisis of 1973, led by Tange and Kisho

Kurokawa – rolled its nation-building ambitions out into the Middle East and newly

independent African nations, setting up camp in ‘the tabula rasa of the desert’ so as to

‘realise ideas that could no longer be entertained in Japan started.

Fig.26. Tange’s master plan for Abuja Fig.27. Tange, Model of National Mall, Abuja, Nigeria

Fig.28 &29. Kiyonori's Marine City 1971,Hawaii

Fig.30 &31. Maki Fumihiko's Republic Polytechnic, Singapore ' s Campus

Current developement

Many contenporary architects show

big resect to methabolism work,

incorporating its conventions.

architect In 1996, when Rem Koolhaas

designed the Hyperbuilding for

Bangkok, we could find there a striking

similarity to Kikutakes works.

“I believe that the last time the government and architects managed to work together was

the period of the Metabolists. So I was interested in looking at where we are now compared

to that time when the situation was fundamentally different.”

Rem Koolhaas

Many advanced countries have launched such mega projects - the creation of a city with

zero carbon emissions, with emphasis on water efficiency and renewable energy sources for

these cities. This will not only help the economic, but also help in finding reliable alternative to

fossil fuel that makes Eco-future cities which entirely uses renewable forms of energy

emphasizing waste reduction, like example from Arab Emirates. The generic city of Masdar,

currently being realised in the desert landscape

30 km to the east of Abu Dhabi. In the future,

50,000 residents will live in there. Materplan by

Foster Architects is a car-free city constructed

on the basis of traditional Arab settlement

patterns for housing and enterprises, a city

designed for zero emission of carbon products.

The internal transportation will be facilitated by

employing electric vehicles

Fig.33. Masdar City-plan for organic, zero-

carbon emission city

Al

Fig. 34. City typologies,

from “Yes is more” by

Bjarke Ingels

Culture is now switching from the West to Asia.

Maybe now is the time when we should look in

the East for an answers, like in project for

development in Azerbejdzan by Danish

architecture BIG studio, is a good example of how

design can consider the landscape, not only in

the visual way, but taking under consideration

ecological aspects as well. Projects for seems a

lot like the organic formas of metabolism, but

operates on a slightly different principles.

Fig. 35. Localization of the project

Located within the bay of Baku, Zira Island includes the Seven Peaks of Azerbaijan which is

envisioned by its architect Bjarke Ingels. Aims to be a sustainable model for urban

development, and an iconographic skyline. The vision of Zira Island is to create a new

development that is completely independent of external resources, an independent island,

which will be much like a sustainable, utopian idea of metabolism.

Combining the best of the traditional

Azerbaijani building tradition with the

latest technology, It will provide a great

living place, with minimal use of resources,

will be a showcase in the world

combining high-end housing with low-end

resource usage. The project itself is

inspired by the surrounding environment,

the design of the buildings reflect the

shape of the mountains of Azerbaijan.

Fig. 36.Project &The peacks of Azejbergan

Each of the Seven Peaks house a residential development derived from the geometry of a

famous mountain in Azerbaijan. Individually each mountain becomes a principle for mixing

private and public functions.

Together the mountains form an organic skyline merging with the natural topography of the

island. A dense vibrant urban community connected to a series of private resort villages by a

central public valley and surrounding beaches. In addition to the Seven Peaks the Master

Plan also includes 300 private villas that take advantage of their setting with panoramic views

out over the Caspian Sea.

For the best performance, the shapes of the buildings at the island are derived from the

landscape and formed to harmonize with microclimate created by the mountains. Where

the wind movement and turbulence are strongest the trees becomes denser, creating lower

wind speeds and thus a comfortable outdoor climate. The newest technologies will be used

for this development, as heating and cooling by heat pumps connecting to the surrounding

Caspian Sea, collection and recycling of waste water for irrigation. After solid parts of the

waste water are processed and composted, then turned into top soil, fertilizing the island. The

constant irrigation of the island supports the lush green condition of a tropical island, with a

minimal ecological footprint.

Fig. 37. Sustainable analysis

"Zira Island will be an important step into the future of urban development in Caucasus and

Central Asia. By help of the wind, the sun and the waste the Island will produce the same

amount of energy as it consumes. In a society literately built on oil this will serve as a

showcase for a new way of thinking sustainable planning.”

Lars Ostenfeld Riemann

Jadida is another designed as a zero-carbon-footprint agglomeration. Different types of

waste products, including sewage, household garbage, energy, and more, will be recycled.

Liquid waste in particular is thought to be re-utilizable in irrigating the surrounding farmland. Al

Jadida Agropolis, by Italian architect Marjan Colleti designed for Egipt government.

Fig. 38. Jadida Agropolis

It would be self-sufficient, agro-urban settlements, resulting in the direct production of food

and energy and eco-sustainable consumption. As a semi-urban, semi-agricultural settlement,

this kind of city will provide new transportation and agricultural infrastructure, while following

the traditional linear and circular farming models common in Egypt, using irrigation circles

system.

There are many contemporary examples for projects inspired and re-using the metabolism

concept. One of most recent ones is probably a futuristic design done by the Brazilian office

De Furnier &Associates. They won the competition by making a Palermo Cranes. It shows a

clear connection to the basic metabolism concepts. The concept is re-inventing the Palermo

Cranes as previously significant elements in the landscape of the city, it is being foreseen as a

initial framework of the revitalization of the port. The “floating” structure might become the

new symbol for change and definitely a symbol for the city.

Fig. 39.Palermo Cranes Project, by De Fournier & Associados

Undoubtedly one of the greatest initiatives for revitalization of recent years is the case study

of Docks de Paris. A futuristic architecture refurbished for docks on the Seine River, stretching

along Quai d'Austerlitz. Authorities of Paris have decided on developing unused space of the

barren. Because it did not have a specific idea whether to revitalize or demolish and build a

new they went with the idea of the French agency Jakob + Macfarlane, which suggested

leaving the old building and creating extension, that would be imposed on as a big green

organic form, mentioning the association in surrounding, or the waters of the Seine. The basic

and most important form, which is a main transformation of the building project, in a glass

and steel structure built on the facade of the ex-docks. An important feature is the

sustainable green roof covered with grass and the wooden deck top-terrace. The architects

are well known for their fresh and vivid approach towards architecture, links to utopian

concepts of 60-ies are clear in most of their works.

Fig.40. a)Elevation Fig.40.b)Green roof

Another project, worth mentioning, by Jakob + MacFarlane is La Ville Intelligente, designed to

be a part of the Paris Parc de la Villette. It is characterised by a distinctive, organic form, is

located among banks of the river Ourcq, in such a way as to be visible from both ends of the

park. It can be accessed from all sides, so that it becomes a living part of the park. Enamelled

steel frame with orange piping supports tarpaulins stretched from underneath. Construction is

set directly on the sidewalk. The main body branches into several zones inviting inside

Fig.41 Plan and Elevation for La Ville Intelligente

“La Ville Intelligente Pavilion was conceived as a place where arteries cross the city of the

future ... space where people can rediscover the urban network, peripheries, streets, and

places ... new urban scenery”

Jakob + MacFarlane Architects

Conclusions

Metabolism shows is that if there’s an intelligent government with an agenda, and a

government that is interested in using architects as actors to play an important role in

creating a world a better place. Regardless of nationality or place of residence, at the design

stage future dream home users will increasingly pay attention to the ergonomics of the

building. In order to lower operating costs will reflect on ecological ways of obtaining energy.

Despite its richness and complexity of the metabolic movement it was probably not executed

in practice as much as it deserved to be. Even though, it left a series of concepts, established

attitudes and forms, a new role of man in creating space. By using a newly available

technology and media, the new utopian projective paradigm system was established at the

time. Where reason and method were based on confidence in natures organic wisdom. The

searching for vernacular forms had definitely positively transformed the urban setting and the

insistence of architecture as a social value was gained from that time on.

Nowadays we are returning to prominence in architectural and urban theory. By theorisation

of our social relation to nature and trying to get back to nature in the way we live, we are

coming back to “romantic” type of approach. Therefore I believe that getting inspiration,

gaining knowledge from metabolism utopia could be a possible answer for the future

development.

What is the future of Japanese architecture? And the futuristic, sustainable concepts? That is

a really deep question, question that cannot be answered unequivocally. Nevertheless

taking from it, the new generation of architects was able to learn and use in the practice the

updated version of metabolic utopia. Nowadays on the one hand, we have the desire to

gain a new character, causing impoverishment of form and lack of attention to details, on

the other we have architects-visionaries who are aiming for a new global architecture. Then it

is very important to not forget traditional values and harmony that could be the lesson we

can find in the Japanese architecture. Building trends are currently inclined towards smart,

ecological and energy efficient buildings and planning. This will benefit the whole of society

and the environment. You can return to the roots, based on the conservation of nature,

combining it with utopian metabolisms’ visions. There the inspiration might be searched for.

Attention to form and limitations would maintain the high quality of architecture.

While the half of the world consisting of developed countries is in a process of stagnation, the

other half continues to grow incredibly quickly. This also directly relates to the timing in which

the exhibition aiming to define and historicize the Japanese architectural movement had

been organized. The ruling classes should look for better balance between richest and

poorest, could act as an incredible sponsor of architects.

Today’s buildings often are equipped with heat pumps or solar installations, but sustainability

is more than just that, its about the understanding the surrounding, finding the form that

would not only serve with its beauty but as well with the approach towards society and

landscape . Only then we can call a project “Sustainable”. To this regard, we have to

maintain consistency with the environment and such aspects should also be carefully

designed by the architects.

Annex

For better understanding and gathering information for my research I conducted a bunch of

interviews regarding life in Japan, here are some of the more interesting information I had

been given by the interviewees.

Interview with Nina Toleva, architect living and working in Tokyo answers:

Paula Pecina: What is the beauty of living in Tokyo, or Japan? -what are the

advantages and disadvantages in your personal opinion?

Nina Toleva: It's hard to say what is the beauty of living in Tokyo/ Japan. I honestly

think it's a personal judgement. A lot of people don't like living here for various reasons

- from safety issues (mainly because of the risk of natural disasters) to overcrowding

and excess of rules to follow. Anyway, let me list a few advantages/disadvantages:

- Advantages: high life-style quality, clean urban environment, strive towards

sustainable architecture and urban development, a lot of interesting places to visit,

completely different culture with deep roots back in the centuries, highly dynamic

environment and new opportunities. Basically, for me, it's like living in the future.

Beautiful nature.

- Disadvantages: extremely high costs and prices, too dynamic daily life, not enough

personal time and total devotion to work, overcrowding, too difficult to find a job or

apartment, earthquakes (one can never get used to them!), risk of huge natural

disasters, tsunami, radiation issues.

P.P. How is the past/ tradition interviewing with new/ modern?

N.T. Actually, this is very hard question and that's part of my research, so I cannot say

for now much. It's more like puzzle with new and ancient pieces, like a medieval

canvas with modern buildings on top. One can wander around the streets, looking at

the skyscrapers, and suddenly an old 2 story house appears in his sight. The tradition is

incorporated in every single thing the Japanese make - from eating to designing.

There are a lot of shrines and temples, which are still very active. It's not just the urban

environment, but their whole life and beliefs.

P.P. If you are Western, or travelled to Europe/ Americas- what is your impression - how

is it different in your eyes public life, spaces, transportation, urban quality of life?

N.T. Public life - highly dynamic. Actually a lot of men go with colleagues to bars after

they finish work, so the balance between public and private life is not just fragile, but

completely broken in my opinion. The transportation system is more than perfect. They

are still building new subway lines and constantly improving their efficiency. They have

also websites, on which you can check how to get to a certain place with several

options for transportation. About the road network - the thing that was most shocking

was that the streets are too narrow! Bad feature - transportation is REALLY EXPENSIVE!

Spaces - not sure what you mean by that... as i told before - medieval urban network

and modern city on top. Quality of life is very high, and also very expensive.

N.T. hmm... Metabolism movement - I suggest you read Rem Koolhaas' book "Project

Japan" - it is the best book about the metabolism and has tons of information

P.P. In your eyes what would be the good direction for future development? What

could be changed/ adjusted in your opinion?

N.T. I cannot say yet... I still have almost year and a half to finish my thesis and then I

will know. If it will be helpful - http://ntoleva.wordpress.com/ this is a blog about my

experience in Japan. I don't write there very often, but still it can give you an

impression about the spaces and the buildings and the environment. Good luck

Interview with Keiko Kitahara, Japanese architect, dedicated to interior design,

http://www.es-design.co.jp/

Paula Pecina: What it means for you to live in Tokyo?

Keiko Kitahara: I grew up in Narita, Chiba prefecture, which is a totally different place,

more traditional, not so crowded, so transition to Tokyo was a really different

experience. It is big, vivid, open, but the real Tokyo are the people. After the recent

earthquake and all the disasters that happened to my country, we are different, and

we know we have to help each other. One of the actions, that many people helped

with was Japan Crisis Housing . Why I took part in it? Simply because I would like to

help Japanese people. My area also has many earthquakes everyday but not so big

so if someone would like to stay in my house. I really wanted to help, especially kids,

even though I had to work every day.

P.P. How is the past/ tradition interviewing with new/ modern?

K.K. Rebuilding the Japanese system modeled on urban American cities. Therefore

modern Japanese city centers are characterized by wide streets running along north-

south direction and east-west, with multi storey buildings. Deviating from the main

arteries, you can come across the typical Japanese neighborhoods built low-roofed

houses with distinctive and often large arrays located on the front, with the owner's

name inscribed. Even to find the neighborhood with mini, family cemeteries located in

the garden. In these neighborhoods, you can see a lot of electrical wires hung along

the street, creating an intricate tangle. In addition, I should mention the very modern

communication solutions in the Japanese cities. For example, in Tokyo from the bus

station, which is located in the city center, you can almost directly on the highway

entering at the height of the third/ fourth floor.

P.P. If you travelled to Europe/ Americas- what is your impression - how is it different in

your eyes public life, spaces, transportation, and urban quality of life?

K.K.I went to over 20 countries. I interchange with the persons, who are interested in a

living all over the world, but still there is not enough time to talk about differences, it

would be shorter if to write about cultural similarities. City-wise, the public spaces and

city life seems different. Especially historic sites are something else, but that is obvious,

our history is totally separated, but for big-city architecture right now it is all a high-rise

“global city”.

One Amazing Thing I've seen or done was when I went to China as a Japanese

teacher. We understood sad history events, that occurred almost century ago, but still

I had made splendid friend relations with Chinese people.

Interview with Krzysztof Sienkiewicz- traveller, Asian studies

Paula Pecina: What it means for you to live in Tokyo?

Krzysztof Sienkiewicz: Something very different from the European experience,

especially if it you come from not as modern- oriented background. Coming from not

as highly developed country, this encounter with a completely different culture,

lifestyle and approach to housing matters, is somewhat a shock. As the largest urban

area in the world, a part of the Nippon megalopolis, it gives infinite possibilities and a

sense of lack of time to fully take advantage of its opportunities. It is also a meeting

with the dizzying multiplicity, with this huge diversity of a somewhat homogeneous

society. Very unconventional.

It is impossible to grasp the essence during a short talk.

P.P. If you are Western -what is your impression - how is it different in your eyes public

life, spaces, transportation, and urban quality of life?

K.S. In my opinion, something different and undesirable is the lack of public spaces

within the meaning of Europe, but it is made is made up a town with most of the

features of sustainable urban planning, such as density, vitality, diversity, intensity and

well-functioning public transport.

P.P. How is the past/ tradition interviewing with new/ modern?

K.S. Japanese people, love their traditional architecture, so classic Japanese buildings

with their distinctive roofs are prestigious in the country today, and are considered to

equate quality, style, and also financial status, for being expensive.

P.P. In your eyes what would be the good direction for future development? What

could be changed/ adjusted in your opinion?

K.S. I have infinite love for this place, its strengths and weaknesses, and if there would

be something that in my opinion should be changed, it would be theft of identity of

Tokyo. Japanese people, love their traditional architecture, so classic Japanese

buildings with their distinctive roofs are prestigious in the country today, and are

considered to equate quality, style, and also financial status, for being expensive.

Interview with Ania Jablonski, student:

Paula Pecina: What it means for you to live in Tokyo?

Ania Jablonski: My assessment is quite subjective, every time I hit the ground of Tokyo,

I'm smiling, maybe because I have only good memories there. Wonderful people, the

boiling atmosphere. Maybe its that I do not like Europe, maybe because sometimes I

feel like I being here for a penalty, its imposed, serious style, sad cities full of churches,

old culture and this masses of tourists sometimes scares me. If I want to chill- then only

in Tokyo!! It is a city of young creative people, it has a soul as me. That is why I feel

good here.

P.P. How is the past/ tradition interviewing with new/ modern?

A.J. Japan is a country where modernity harmonizes with a rich history, stunning

modern architecture of large cities contrasts with wooden houses in small towns or

rural areas. It is worth to go a little off the beaten path and try to look at it from

different side.

In everyday lobbying people are rushing to work in the office uniforms, but sometimes

pedestrian dressed in a beautiful, traditional kimono comes along. It's a kaleidoscope

of impressions, which stuns!

Bibliography:

Rem Koolhaas, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Project Japan: Metabolism Talks, 2011, Editor: Taschen,

Max Rissalada, Dirk van den Hauvel, Team 10 1953-81, in seach of the utopia of the present,

Rotterdam, 2010, Editor: NAi Publishers

Bjarke Ingels, Yes is more: An archicomic on architectural evolution BIG Bjarke Ingels Group,

Copenhagen, 2009, Editor: Evergreen

Marco Wolfler Calvo, Archigram/Metabolism. L'utopia negli anni Sessanta, 2007, Editor:

CLEAN

Koichi Hamada, Keijiro Otsuka, Gustav Ranis, Ken Togo, Miraculous Growth and Stagnation in

Post-War Japan, 2011 Editor: Routledge

Kentaro Nakajima, Economic Division and Spatial Relocation: The Case of Postwar Japan,

2006

Articles:

Junichiro Okata, Akito Murayama, Tokyo’s Urban Growth, Urban Form and Sustainability, from

Japan Architect 73/2009

Haruya Hirooka,The Development of Tokyo's Rail Network, Japan Railway & Transport Review

No. 23 (pp.22–30)

Metabolism, the city of the future: dreams and visions of reconstruction in post-war and

present-day Japan, press release , 2011

Reports:

Tokyo’s New Urban Development Plan Incorporating Changing Socioeconomic Conditions,

by Bureau of City Planning Tokyo Metropolitan Government

Lectures:

- Monique Ruzicka-Rossier Beatrice Ferrari,

Urban planning culture of Japan; Développement Territorial et Urbanisme II: Villes d’Asie

-Post-war Development of the Japanese Economy―Development, Japanese/Asian Style

Prof. Shigeru T. OTSUBO April 2007

Shigeru T. Otsubo* GSID, Nagoya University

http://www.gsid.nagoya-

u.ac.jp/sotsubo/Postwar%20Development%20of%20the%20Japanese%20Economy%20%28Pro

f.pdf

Websites:

-Post-occupation Japan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-occupation_Japan

-Dr. Loren Siebert, GIS-Based Visualization of Tokyo's Urban History

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/meetings/papers/Siebert-TokyoVisual.PDF

-Urban planning culture of Japan Développement Territorial et Urbanisme II: Villes d’Asie

http://choros.epfl.ch/files/content/sites/choros/files/shared/Enseignement/Developpement%

20territorial%20et%20urbanisme/08-

09%20S2%20Villes%20d%27Asie/Documents/6_Sujet_Japan%20Urban%20planning%20culture_

DTU%20Asie_0809.pdf

- By Bureau of City Planning Tokyo Metropolitan

Governmenthttp://www.goethe.de/kue/arc/dos/dos/sls/sfo/en1566336.htm

- Tokyo’s New Urban Development Plan Incorporating Changing Socioeconomic Conditions

(Report)

http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan003024.pdf