Beyond Utopia: Japanese Metabolism Architecture and the Birth of Mythopia

239 Pages·2018·8.541 MB·English

by  Agnes Nyilas

“Beyond Utopia is a timely and valuable work in the field of urban design history.
Agnes Nyilas has brought us one of the first comprehensive overviews on the
Japanese Metabolism movement in English. This book will be of keen interest to
anthropologists, historians, real estate managers, political and administrative leaders,
city planners, urban designers, architects as well as citizens interested in improving
the quality of the urban environment. Following Agnes’s sudden passing, I wish to
dedicate a sincere gratefulness to her for the constructive urban design research and
work she accomplished.”
Shunsuke Iwasaki, Urban Designer and Architect,
Chief Urban Designer of the City of Yokohama,
Former Chief of Human Settlement, UN ESCAP

BEYOND UTOPIA
Megastructure proposals by the Japanese Metabolism group are commonly
identified with the concept of utopia. Beyond this partial understanding, Agnes Nyilas
suggests that rather than being merely utopian, the Megastructure of Metabolism
represents a uniquely amalgam genre: the myth camouflaged as utopia. Although
its Megastructure seemingly describes a desirable future condition as utopia does,
it also comprises certain cultural images rooted in the collective (un)conscious
of Japanese people, in accordance with the general interpretation of myth. The
primary narrative of Beyond Utopia thus follows the gradual unfolding of the myth-
like characteristics of its Megastructure.
Myth is dealt here as an interdisciplinary subject in line with contemporary
myth theories. After expounding the mechanism underlying the growing demand
for a new myth in architecture (t he origin of the myth) , Part I discovers the formal
characteristics of the Megastructure of Metabolism to give a hint of the real intention
behind it. Based on this, Part II is a reexamination of their design methods, which
aims to clarify t he function of the myth and to suggest the meaning behind it. Finally,
Part III deals with the subject matter of the myth by disclosing the meaning unfolding
in the story, and suggests a new reading of Metabolism urban theory: as an attempt
to reconsider the traditional Japanese space concept.
Agnes Nyilas was an Assistant Professor at Sugiyama Jogakuen University in
Japan. She received a combined BArch + MArch degree in architecture from
Technical University of Budapest, Hungary, and a PhD in architecture from Nagoya
University, Japan. Her research interests ranged from architectural design practice
to the history and theory of architecture and urban design, with a special focus on
modern and contemporary design theories.

BEYOND UTOPIA
Japanese Metabolism Architecture
and the Birth of Mythopia
Agnes Nyilas
First published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
The right of Agnes Nyilas to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-05602-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-05603-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-16558-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Cover design by Asaka Nakamura
[ . . . A] nation is a communal embodiment of a certain collective
imagination.
—Arata Isozaki, Japan-ness in Architecture

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations xii
Foreword xvi
Author’s Preface xvii
Acknowledgment xxii
I ntroduction: The Origin of the ‘Myth’— the Agony
of Modern Architecture 1
The Formation of CIAM 1
Transformation From CIAM to Team X 4
Urban Theories of Team X 8
PART I
The Utopia of Megastructure—The ‘Myth’ Camoufl aged 15
Introduction to Part I 15
On Megastructure Approaches 15
On the Metabolism Movement 25
Objectives of Analysis 34
Scale and Method of Analysis 35
Organization of Part I 36
1 Megastructure Proposals by Kiyonori Kikutake 43
‘Vertical Communities’ 43
Typology of ‘Vertical Communities’ and the Formal Structure
of Each Type 45
Summary: Comparison Among the Types 48