1

Within the last century, we have explored the boundaries of how we define architecture.

Before, it seemed that architecture was the same thing as a building. However, in the 20th

Century many architectural movements began questioning this definition. Some „avant-garde‟

movements in particular re-defined architecture as how people use and interact with the space

around them. Proponents of this idea included groups such as Archigram in Europe, the

Metabolists in Japan, and the international Team X (an offshoot of CIAM). Many of the plans

proposed by these groups were not, and in many cases could not be, built. They were not

attempting to create real objects. Their purpose, other than pushing the limits of what

architecture could be, was to create possible solutions to certain societal, cultural, and economic

concerns.

Let us focus on one of these groups, the Metabolists of Japan. They attempted to deal

with the after effects of WWII in their country. Using utopian and megastructural concepts,

among other ideas, the Metabolists aimed to re-build a better Japan for the future and to

accommodate for a rapidly growing population. The reconstruction of Japan was something that

deeply affected all aspects of the country. Because of its strong historical ramifications, the

reconstruction affected all aspects of the society, including popular culture. After the

reconstruction period and the ideas of the Metabolists had waned, futuristic post-apocalyptic and

post-war situations began to appear in the popular Japanese cultural phenomenon of anime and

manga. The characters in anime and manga interact with their environment in a way that is

similar to how people in reality interact with their environment. However, the fictional stories

are simulations. Some of these fictional situations were created to offer a critique of what Japan

and the world could have become had the Metabolists been able to fully implement their utopian

theories in real life. Anime and manga examine the effects of massive, technological and

2

futuristic architecture and how it plays into the political, social, and economic sectors of the

characters‟ lives. These popular culture items, once again, are simulations of what could have

been.

In order to assert this idea, it is necessary to understand background of the Metabolist

movement. The architectural climate during the late 1940s and the 1950s included a sector

which investigated urban planning in post-World War II. An example of an urban planning

group which fits into this category is Team X. Produced from a previous architectural group

called CIAM, Team X rejected the purely mechanical proposals of the Modernist movement and

instead were concerned with creativity and how humans interacted with their environment.1

Other groups and individuals, such as Reyner Banham and Archigram, sought to solve the

problems of mid-century urban planning by including technology (inspired by the theories of

Buckminster Fuller) and popular culture. They also attempted to plan a utopian society using

massive structures called megastructures. These megastructures were expendable and mobile;

they consisted of smaller, detachable sections or cells within a larger, more permanent structure.2

Peter Cook, a member of Archigram, was especially known for his megastructures, including

Plug-in-City (Fig 1), and later on, his Layer City (Fig 2). These structures eliminated the idea of

the single building. People would be free to move about the larger structure, moving the smaller

cells wherever they want whenever they want to.

These ideas were appealing to the Japanese, who were looking to reconstruct quickly and

cheaply for an exploding population in the years following World War II. At the time, Japan

promoted its own culture as a national principle. Also, Japan wanted to be peaceful with other

nations. Before this period, the Japanese did not experience much influence from the West in the

1 Reaffirmation of the Aims of CIAM, ock 101-2

2 Mallgrave 2005

3

case of architecture, with the exception of some German and Czech Modernist influence.3 In

1960, Tokyo held the World Design Conference for the purpose of discussing universal design.

Here, architects and designers came together from around the world, including post-Modernist

Europeans like the Smithsons.4 Also present were a group of young Japanese artists consisting

of the architects Takashi Asada, Kiyonori Kikutake, Kisho Kurokawa, Masato Ohtaka, and

Fumihiko Maki, designers Kiyoshi Awazu and Kenji Ekuan, and the critic Noboru Kawazoe.5

These young architects, who were heavily influenced by the ideas of Western utopian

megastructural advocates such as Team X, and by the ideas of new technology, banded together

to form the Metabolists. However, the borrowing of post-Modernist thought did not completely

exclude certain Modernist influences. This group was heavily influenced by Le Corbusian

thought.6

Their choice of name comes from the idea that the city should be based on a living,

moving process that forms a cohesive whole, unlike Western thought that placed more emphasis

on the machine. This Metabolist movement of design and technology is symbolic of human

vitality.7 The architecture should be moveable, flexible, and built of smaller cells like a living

organism. This plan allows for dynamic growth and is responsive to the inhabitants, rather than

trying to have an overarching construction that the inhabitants must conform to. This allowed

for greater individual freedom.

The actual biological process of metabolism is the use of smaller materials to build

something bigger; however, it is also when some larger whole is broken down into component

parts. Metabolists sought a sort of rebirth from the physical and psychological devastation

3 Mallgrave 2005

4 Maki 1993

5 Banham 1985

6 Banham 1985

7 Mallgrave 2005

4

leftover from World War II. Rather than replace the past, however, the Metabolists attempted to

allow past and future to coexist.8 The cyclical nature of biological processes is metaphorical for

the death and rebirth of culture. The Metabolists were interested in Japanese tradition and

culture, and believed that this should be combined with more recent ideas of technology,

expressionism and monumentalism. 9

These ideas would applicable to the problems associated with an explanding population.

The Metabolist theories were economical as well, since new components would simply be added

on rather than creating several individual buildings. Other urban cities, according to Metabolists,

are monotonous, confusing, inflexible and lack character. Conversely, Metabolist urban

structures can lose some elements but still maintain a cohesive whole. They efficiently condense

urban space.10

The Metabolists aimed to expand off of land and into bodies of water or upwards

into the sky, as land is a scarce resource in Japan.

Another important figure who aided in the Metabolist movement was Kenzo Tange.

Tange served as a mentor to the younger Metabolists. It is easy to see how his plans could be

helpful to the tenets of Metabolism. Take, for example, Tange‟s Tokyo Bay Plan (Fig 3). This

plan is a megastructure, that is, there is a larger framework with smaller, moveable parts.

Buildings are attached and detached to super highways. The entire structure was supposed to be

built over Tokyo Bay. This plan clearly has an aspect of dynamic growth, something central to

Metabolist thought. The roads for this plan have been likened to arteries and veins.11

The

buildings are similar to cells, as they are smaller and have a shorter life compared to the larger

8 Shelton 1999

9 Maki 1993

10 Maki 1993

11 Mallgrave 2005

5

overall body. They can be cut out from the main structure, destroyed, and replaced by new

buildings.12

Kiyonori Kikutake, a member of the Metabolists, had proposed some Metabolist-like

plans before the group came into being. Two of these are his Sky House (Fig 4) in Tokyo, built

two years before the Tokyo World Design Conference, and also his Marine City (Fig 5.) Sky

House is a single structure built above the rest of the city. The structure of the interior is set up

so that a permanent, open living space is surrounded by easily replaceable service-related spaces.

This is an example of a plug-in structure on a small scale. The Marine City plan featured large,

cylindrical towers that allowed several smaller, circular units to plug into them. Several of these

larger towers were placed on circular disks which floated over water.13

Once again, in this plan

we see the mobility of the individual in the implementation of “group form.” First proposed by

Fumihiko Maki and Masato Ohtaka, group form is the concept of an ever changing whole that is

in flux because of its smaller moving parts. Several elements form a cohesive whole; a group of

components creates a larger form.14

It is the antithesis of the traditional image of a single

structure.15

Maki and Fumihiko collaborated on an urban design employing their idea of group form

in the Shinjuku district restoration . Each building is not a single structure on its own, but is a

component of the entire plan. There are biological references here as well; the amusement

squares have a petal design, and the whole plan looks and even functions much like a cell

would.16

12

Shelton 1999 13

Mallgrave 2005 14

Maki 1993 15

Mallgrave 2005 16

Maki 1993

6

Arata Isozaki is commonly cited as another architect who designed structures with

Metabolist principles. His megastructures have been described as protective and almost fortress-

like. He commonly incorporated a joint core system into his architectural plans. For example,

Isozaki‟s City in the Air (Joint Core System) (Fig 7), created as a counterproposal to an urban

city filled with skyscrapers, contained cylindrical shafts, or “joint cores,” which would hold up

the smaller, interchangeable components.17

His later Clusters in the Air (Fig 8) had a similar

joint core concept. However, instead of having the interchangeable parts in between the joint

cores, Clusters in the Air had the interchangeable parts cluster together on the cylindrical towers.

A city of these structures would give the impression of being in a forest, with each joint core

resembling a tree. This plan would allow for a free flow of traffic and pedestrians on the ground

below.18

Isozaki‟s structures are also indicative of advancements in technology and in

engineering; these structures are incredibly large and are extremely top heavy.

Kisho Kurokawa‟s Helix City (or Floating City) (Fig 9), like Kikutake‟s and Tange‟s

plans, was meant to be built over a large body of water. The buildings resemble spiral helixes,

and were connected by a bridge system. Apartments would be hung on the horizontal bars going

up and down the helixes. This plan has clear biological influence, uses group form, and is a

megastructure. Fumihiko Maki‟s Golgi Structures (Fig 10), have a design inspired by nerve cell

bodies. They condense urban area while including open spaces in between. In this way he

employs efficiency. He also includes communication properties of nerve cells in his

architecture. The open spaces provide mobility and freedom for the inhabitants, making them

user friendly and focused on social interaction.19

17

MoMA 18

Isozaki 1991 19

Salat 1998

7

There are some rare instances of Metabolist plans actually being built. The Nakagin

Capsule Tower (Fig 11), created by Kisho Kurokawa, consists of two concrete towers that

intersect one another. Several small capsule rooms are attached to these concrete towers. These

capsules not only have to ability to combine with other capsules, but are also detachable.20

Much

like Sky House, it is the plug-in concept on a very small scale.

The By the 1970‟s, the Metabolists disbanded and its members began branching off in

separate directions.21

Their ideas fell way to more practical plans for urban space. Japanese

firms concerned with mass housing employed their idea of prefabricated steel and concrete

systems.22

The Metabolists were also crucial in placing Japan on the worldwide, mainstream

scene of architecture. Architecturally, Japan gained equal footing with powerful Western

countries, thus allowing for the exchange of ideas between Japan and the West. This was

especially due to the 1970 Osaka World‟s Fair, which displayed the accumulation of Metabolist

thought.

The Metabolists proposed that the future could be disclosed through structures.23

It is

this concept that has allowed Metabolist architecture to re-emerge into popular culture. This is

not surprising, as many of the Metabolists‟ Western influences strongly tied architecture to

popular culture. An example of popular culture that has borrowed from the Metabolists is

Japan‟s answer to Western cartoons and comics: anime and manga. Certain anime and manga

feature utopian worlds which were created in the aftermath of some post-war or post-apocalyptic

scenario. These situations are similar to what Japan was experiencing after the defeat in the

Second World War. In examining these stories, we can contemplate how futuristic, highly

20

Mallgrave 2005 21

Mallgrave 2005 22

Maki 1993 23

Banham 1985

8

technological architecture influences the characters and the larger society. In this way, the anime

and manga create simulations of how the Metabolist ideas would have affected the people living

around their proposed architecture.

How does Metabolist architecture affect its inhabitants? In order to answer this, I would

like to consider a few examples of anime and manga. The first is a manga series called

Appleseed. These comics are set in a post-World War III world. After this war, no particular

side won or lost, but the earth experienced intense world-wide urban destruction. Japan,

however, has managed to construct a utopian city, called Olympus, which other countries in the

world intend to model their cities after. This new city enforces disarmament. Japan is

democratic and engages in free trade with other countries.

Olympus is literally built over the old ruins. The city is made of “archologies,” (Fig 12)

large structures 800 meters high that contain commercial, residential, and business sectors. The

name, archology, is a synthesis of the words architecture and ecology, bringing to mind a

biological habitat. These archologies compact urban space so much that few people have the

need for cars. Factories are contained underground and power comes from structures in outer

space. Technology allows time and weather to be controlled. The architecture has been created

for individual freedom, as illustrated in this line from volume 2 of Appleseed: “‟Functional

simplicity, structural complexity: the best life for all.‟ That‟s the maxim the city planners gave

to our managers.”24

The best city is both user friendly and a feat in engineering.

But is this perfect city really perfect? In some ways, the characters seem to feel sheltered

within the city, however, Appleseed offers criticism of this kind of urban utopia:

24

Shirow #2

9

“Sure, I can do what I want all day long, but I don‟t even

feel alive…I thought it was good here, too, at first. But it‟s NOT

dreamland. It‟s…it‟s a zoo. A zoo for those weird animals

that build their own cages and hide inside of them.”25

The characters point out that the inhabitants of the city are hiding from the reality inside these

utopian, fortress-like megastructures. They feel constrained and overwhelmed by the massive

architecture and by the societal implications that the archologies advance. Rather than being

free, they instead feel as if they were trapped in a cage. Appleseed also questions the Japanese

focus on world peace, as the manga presents the problems associated with disarmament.

Another example of a futuristic post-war Japan can be found in the anime series Neon

Genesis Evangelion. The old city in this story has been reduced to ruins from a war with an

army of robot invaders called Angels. Humans, in order to protect themselves from the

dangerous outside world which is prone to Angel attacks, have created Nerv City (Fig 13). Nerv

City, when under attack, is directly below the ruins of the old city. However, when there is no

threat to the city, Nerv city moves up to the surface; the buildings in Nerv City are retractable.

In this way, the city is a living, mobile city. Buildings are moveable and are part of a

larger system that controls whether or not the city is underground or above ground, a concept

that has similarity with group form. The name of the city implies some sort of biological

influence. Also, other aspects of the anime blur the line between biology and technology: the

robots that humans use to fight the Angels can regenerate. These massive robots are literally

connected to the underground city via something like an umbilical cord.

The main character, Shinji, is a young boy that was forced to be in command of one of

these robots. Although the city shelters him, he is also controlled by the city, and by technology

and society. The society tells him what he can and cannot do. When he goes inside the robots in

25

Shirow #5

10

order to fight Angels, he appears to be at the mercy of the machine, rather than him being in

control of the robot. He is dominated by Nerv City: “it‟s so desolate… the city seems so

lonely.”26

This environment, although protective and conscious of its users (it retracts), once

again dominates and alienates the inhabitants.

A final consideration of post-war anime is the film Akira. The story occurs in the year

2019, thirteen years after World War III. Tokyo has been renamed „Neo Tokyo.‟ It is built on

an artificial island over Tokyo Bay. Neo Tokyo‟s plan is reminiscent of Kange‟s Tokyo Bay

Plan. (Fig 14) There is also an „old city‟ to the west of the new city. The old city consists of

abandoned ruins from before the war.

The citizens of Neo Tokyo are not, however, in a utopia. They instead appear to be in a

dystopia. Akira presents the problems of overcrowding, such as rampant gang violence, which

emerged from flaws in planning and in government that were not anticipated. One character

summarizes this sentiment in the following line, “The joy of building has cooled, and the passion

for reconstruction is gone. Now it‟s just a garbage heap for a bunch of hedonistic fools.”27

Neo

Tokyo is a failure. Citizens of the city are at the mercy of the urban structure; the people literally

crumble and fall with the massive and intimidating buildings. A prophetic quote from the movie

warns that “the city will crumble, so many people will die.” The people of Neo Tokyo are very

much affected by their surroundings, and, in this case, the city harbors a negative effect on the

inhabitants. In Akira, Tokyo seems to be in a perpetual state of destruction and rebirth, as the

movie both begins and ends with the destruction of the city.

The critiques of utopian, futuristic architecture presents us with the social ramifications

of these megastructures. Authors, architects, and architectural theorists have pointed out these

26

Neon Genesis Evangelion Episode 2 27

Otomo 1988

11

same problems when considering the Metabolists. One criticism is that Metabolist architecture

includes “an alien aspect… it equates art with biological inevitability, thereby ousting personal

taste.”28

In other words, it alienates the individual from the architecture. Although the

Metabolists wanted to pay attention to the individual and their freedoms, the architecture they

planned could be dominating and impersonal to those interacting with it. The megastructures

have to be controlled by one central process. This seems to point away from democratic freedom

and free trade. Instead, whoever controls these structures will control the individuals living in

them. The inhabitants may be able to move where they want whenever they want to, but

somebody has to be regulating the entire structure. Also, if art and architecture are not biology,

then it may not be necessary or even a good idea to base the latter off of the former. The

inclusion of group form or dynamic growth in a city as opposed to typical forms of expansion

may not be a better option for urban planning. This, however, does not mean that the

megastructures failed to protect the citizens of the cities in some of the examples given.

The anime I have considered also satirizes human‟s dependence on technology to solve

problems. All three cases place tremendous faith in both technology and architecture for

defending humans from danger, and ultimately from the real world. In Akira, technology seems

to have been over-depended upon to the point where it became detrimental to society. The

enthusiasm of the reconstruction period became so extreme that it destroyed what it was

attempting to construct.

In review of these works of Japanese pop culture, the effects of the Metabolists are

apparent. The makers of the anime and manga purposely included this style of architecture in

their creations because they knew that the architecture was crucial to the societies they were

crafting. In viewing the stories we are able to see how the characters are affected by and how

28

Isozaki 1991

12

they interact with their environment and with the city around them. These characters are

dominated by controlling and overwhelming environments, causing them to constantly struggle

with their surroundings. It is this tension between human and space that is central to what

architecture really is.

13

Fig 1: Plug in City, Peter Cook, 1964

Fig 2: Layer City, Peter Cook, 1984

14

Fig 3: Tokyo Bay Plan, Kenzo

Tange, 1960

Fig 4: Sky House, Kiyonori Kikutake, 1958. Tokyo, Japan.

15

Fig 5: Marine City,

Kiyonori Kikutake,

1958

16

Fig 7: City in the Air (Joint Core System), Arata Isozaki, 1960

Fig 8: Clusters in the Air, Arata Isozaki, 1962.

17

Fig 9: Helix City

(Floating City),

Kisho Kurokawa,

1961.

Fig 10: Golgi Structures, Fumihiko Maki, 1968

18

Fig 11: Nakagin Capsule Tower,

Kisho Kurokawa, 1972.

Shimbashi, Tokyo, Japan

Fig 12: Archology, from Appleseed

Volume 2

19

Fig 13: Nerv City, retracted

(top). Nerv City, with

buildings above ground

(bottom). From Neon Genesis

Evangelion, Episode 2.

Fig 14:

Overhead Plan

of Neo Tokyo,

from Akira.

20

Works Cited

Mallgrave,Harry F.. Modern Architectural Theory: A Historical Survey, 1673-1968. Cambridge,

MA: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Maki, Fumihiko, and Masato Ohtaka. "Towards Group Form," in Architecture Culture 1943-

1968: A Documentary Anthology, edited byJoan Ockman, 319-324. New York:

Rizzoli, 1993.

Banham, Reyner, Katsuhiro Kobayashi, and Hiroyuki Suzuki. Contemporary Architecture of

Japan 1958-1984. New York: Rizzoli, 1985.

Shelton, Barrie. Learning from the Japanese City: West Meets East in Urban Design. London:

Taylor & Francis, Inc Inc, 1999.

"MoMA: The Collection: Arata Isozaki." 2009.http://www.moma.org (accessed March 12,

2010).

Isozaki, Arata; David B. Steward and Hajime Yatsuka (eds). Arata Isozaki: Architecture 1960-

1990. Translated by Sabu Kohso. New York: Rizzoli, 1991.

Salat, Serge. Fumihiko Maki: an aesthetic of fragmentation. New York: Rizzoli, 1998.

Shirow, Masamune. “Civvy Street.” Appleseed: The Promethean Challenge. #2 (15 February

1985 –15 April 1989), Eclipse Comics.

Shirow, Masamune. “Hot Potato.” Appleseed: The Promethean Challenge. #5 (15 February

1985 –15 April 1989), Eclipse Comics.

Anno, Hideaki. Neon Genesis Evangelion. Episodes 1-3, first broadcast October 1995 by

Animax.

Otomo, Katsuhiro. Akira. Dvd. Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. Japan: Ryōhei Suzuki and

Shunzō Katō, 1988.

Bibliography

Dawson, Layla. Metabolic Manga. Architectural Review, June 2008.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-180782238.html, Vol 223 Issue 1336 p 104

Drazen, Patrick. Anime Explosion!: the what? why? and wow! of Japanese Animation. Berkeley,

CA: Stone Bridge Press, 2003.

Neo Tokyo 3 – Architecture in Japanese Manga and Anime. Exhibit. Deutsches Architektur

Museum, Frankfurt, June 2008. http://www.dam-online.de (accessed March

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21

Ishimoto, Yasuhiro. Katsura: tradition and creation in Japanese Architecture. Translation by

Charles S. Terry. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1972.

Tange, Kenzō. Kenzo Tange, 1946-1969; architecture and urban design. Edited by Udo

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