How can we efficiently deal with this kind rudimentary artifacts in out urban environment?
HOW ?
„

I thought that architecture is not permanent art, something that is completed and fixed, but rather something that grows towards the future, is expanded upon, renovated and developed. This is the concept of metabolism.

Kisho Kurokawa








Basic Principles
of Metabolism in architecture
Metabolism represented an urban environment that was responsive, replaceable and could grow in an organic way. It largely followed the 'megastructure' form that was gaining in popularity with architects and planners at the time, as a means of addressing the growing populations of urban areas and the rapidly-changing lifestyles of the post-war era.
The principles of the megastructure were that it had to be modular, capable of extension and have a framework into which smaller elements could be 'plugged' or replaced.
Agricultural City
Kisho Kurokawa, 1960
Information

  • Architects: Kisho Kurokawa
  • Location: Aichi, Japan
  • Typology: Urbanism / City planning
  • Project Year: 1960
  • Photographs and drawings: © Kisho Kurokawa
Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa designed in 1960 the "Agricultural City". Intended for the replacement of the agricultural towns in Aichi destroyed by the Ise Bay Typhoon in 1959, the accommodation was to be raised above the ground to deal with future Flooding. The grid was intended to be between 300 and 500 meters; Kurokawa challenged the assumption that the city and the country need to be in antagonism.
Agricultural cities, industrial cities, consumption cities, and recreation cities should each form an integral part of a compact community. A distinct urban system should exist between those cities. Agricultural cities have potential as future cities. And that is the reason why it is necessary to have a basic plan for their future expansion.
The basic unit of the rural area of Japan is 500 m x 500 m community centered around a shrine, a grammar school, and a temple. According to the proposed plan, roads, water services, electricity, monorails for work and other facilities are installed 4 meters above the ground. This will enable the common handling and administering of agricultural works.