Nakagin Capsule Tower（中译名:中银胶囊塔）丨日本东京

Capsule Micro Apartments

A 13 floor tower consisting of 140 micro apartments.

Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, Japan consisting of approximately 100 square feet units built in 1972. Photos by

Noritaka Minami

This was constructed as a part of the Metabolism movement of architecture in Japan during the 60s.

Each capsule measures 2.3 m (7.5 ft) wide × 3.8 m (12 ft) long × 2.1 m (6.9 ft) high. These were built, originally, for bachelor salarymen…(that’s what the article said!) The compact apartments included a wall of appliances and cabinets built into one side, including a kitchen stove, a refrigerator, a television set, and a reel-to-reel tape deck. A bathroom unit, about the size of an aircraft lavatory, is set into an opposite corner. A large circular window over a bed dominates the far end of the room. I, ImReady, never found a picture of a view from the round window, namely the other side of the room, where the “Airplane type Lavatory” is located.

For those who left silly comments: these apartments are not the contemporary tiny houses you are used to, given that the whole skyscraper was built and completed in 1972, yet they’re more contemporary than any other microhouse of nowadays: just look at their bathrooms, to see how much the whole capsule could have been perfectly functional tiday with a modern “upgraded” furniture. It’s a pity that a masterpiece of futuristic architecture like the nakagin capsule tower is abandoned and left like an old useless steel container, because its a piece of historical and artistic japanese heritage. So sad.