Towards time-based architectural strategy

Abstract

Metabolism as the avant-garde architectural movement in Japan, reflects the thinking for the future toward changes, new technology, and social resilience by the 1960s Japanese architects. The movement is deeply rooted in the Japanese Buddhist belief based on reincarnation and architectural tradition based on dismantling.
From a functional point of view, ‘Metabolism’ emphasizes the flexibility or adaptability of buildings over time. In the view of materialization, ‘metabolism’ puts forward the idea of returning the material back to the economic cycle or return to nature. We see similarities in the concept of circular design, which also aims at making the building future-proof throughout its material life cycle.
Though the two movements share a high level of similarity in terms of initial concept and strategy, we turn to think about what the inspiration from metabolism would be under the scope of circular design nowadays at the architectural level. At the same time, we see that a new generation of architects is still drawing from the lessons of the Metabolists. They diverge from the fetish of megastructures to more human-associated and mobility aspects of Metabolism. By analyzing projects from Japanese architects Ryue Nishizawa from SANAA and Sou Fujimoto, this thesis aims to study the interpretation of metabolism in the current context at the architectural scale, focusing on how this philosophical concept gets reflected in architectural design, structure, and materialization.