Category: Architecture

Since I started living in Japan one of the main concerns in my life are earthquakes. I have always wondered if buildings and houses are really prepared to endure a great earthquake. The truth is that, after asking many people and informing myself, most of the structures would resist less than you would have expected. Earthquake legislation was changed in 1981 and every building or house built after that year is supposed to be more secure against seismic shakings. In 2007 the legislation was changed once again to make it even more strict. But even so, everybody is afraid that there will be a huge earthquake with epicenter in a very populated area.

If you come to Japan, the newer the house you stay the better, at least it should have been built after 1981. Earthquakes are one of the reasons (among many of them) why houses value goes down over the years.

A house in construction with a special system in the walls that is able to withstand strong shakings.

Down to the left you can see the structure of the walls interior. There is some kind of “mobile scissors system” integrated inside each of the house walls.

This is a sketch of how an earthquake would affect the Tokyo town hall.

Other posts about earthquakes

• Earthquake risk areas in Tokyo
• Earthquake = Tsunami => Refuge
• Evacuation zones

After the Second World War 98% of buildings and houses in Tokyo had been destroyed. During the reconstruction of the country some Japanese architects thought that the future of architecture should be the most “modular” possible; they were part of the metabolic movement. These architects, worried about the future of our society, thought that living standards would be better if architecture structures were flexible and extensible, they would be better if they grew as if they were a living organism composed by modules. One of the most important metabolist architects of the post-war era was Kisho Kurokawa. He designed the first modular building: the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Shinbashi, Tokyo.

The building consists of two big columns that form the core. 140 prefabricated capsules were added to this core, each of them attached to one of the two columns with four big screws. Capsules can be replaced by new ones as time passes by and they are built in a factory. The current capsules have a television, a bathroom, a mini-kitchen, a bed, two built-in closets and even a calculator.

One of the first designs of the currently installed capsules.

After almost 40 years the Nakagin Capsule Tower is still in place but the capsule replacement system is not as simple as it was thought at the beginning and the building is getting old. The inhabitants of the tower have decided to demolish it to build a traditional office tower, something the international community of architects opposes. Many of them consider it an exponent of high historical value of how our cities could be nowadays but never happened. It is a reminder of the paths that were not taken, that there was a possibility of other worlds in where we could live in.

Photo by Tomio Ohashi.

Photo by Tomio Ohashi.

Photo by Tomio Ohashi.

Photo by Tomio Ohashi.

Video that shows capsules interior with explanations by architect Kisho Kurokawa.

The Great Seto Bridge connects the main island of Japan, called Honshu, with the fourth biggest island in the archipielago, called Shikoku. Being a little bit over 13 km long, it is the longest two-tiered bridge in the world, a record that belonged during many years to the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.

The Great Seto Bridge illuminating the horizon. I took this picture from a nearby island.

This great picture was taken by Chris Willson at 5:00 a.m from the Honshu side of the bridge right where it begins.