READING ARCHITECTURE WRITING Lecture Series
“Digesting Metabolism: Artificial Land in Japan 1954–2202"
Speaker: Casey Mack
Moderator: Thomas Daniell
Rather than the focus on capsule architecture that dominates discussion of the Metabolist architects, "Digesting Metabolism: Artificial Land in Japan 1954–2202" (Hatje Cantz, 2022) investigates the impact on Japanese housing of Le Corbusier’s idea of “artificial land.” Overshadowed by the term “megastructure” that it inspired, artificial land is a technique that links the individual and the collective, envisioning housing as stacked platforms of plots for building freestanding homes of all types. First introduced to Japan in 1954 by Le Corbusier’s protégé, Takamasa Yoshizaka, artificial land was an essential concept for the Metabolists, who debuted in 1960. It has had a hold on Japan’s metabolic imagination ever since, promising domestic satisfaction and environmental resilience from the postwar period to today’s government policies. Drawing on previously untranslated texts, the book presents the influences on artificial land’s conceptualization, and key the projects that show its diverse interpretations for an infrastructural approach to housing.
Casey Mack is an architect and the director of Brooklyn-based Popular Architecture. His work has been published in Harvard Design Magazine, OASE, The Avery Review, and Domus China.