Exhibit Seeks to Understand Japan's 'Metabolism' Architecture

The Metabolism movement began in the 1960s around a group of architects focused on creating structures that emulate organic life and allow for continual growth and change. "Sustainability and scale were paramount and they channeled these values not through a lens of austerity but of sci-fi dreams," explains reporter Kevin McGarry.

Examples of their work, such as the subcompact dwellings within the Nakagin Capsule Tower, built in 1971 by Kisho Kurukowa operate dually as a design oddity and manifestation of utopian planning theories hatched more than a decade earlier in the face of over population and limited space.

The exhibit is distilled into a slideshow by McGarry, who concludes that although "many of these buildings may recall a nostalgic vision of the future, projects influenced by Metabolism are still sprouting up in oceans, deserts and cultural centers the world over, and its driving ethos is as timely as it is timeless."