Archello Awards 2026 · Enter your projects before 30 September 2026
Archello Awards 2026 · Enter your projects before 30 September 2026

Metabolist movement

An overview of projects, products and exclusive articles about metabolist movement

Project • By Cut ArchitecturesBars

Bam Karaoke

The inspiration is taken from the traditional Japanese private karaoke box experience: cathode-ray screen, duplicable cabins, Japanese precision, technological utopia, … The place inhabits a futuristic nostalgia out of a science fiction movie from the 80s and the Japanese metabolist movement from the 60s. The immersion is growing through the place, first in the cocktail bar where bronze- tinted mirrors reflect the bar and counter in steel and black glass together with the BAM logo neon light. The floor is made out of Red, Green and Blue strips drives the visitor toward the corridor where the ceiling repeats the grid as a geometrical obsession projecting shadows leading the visitor to the boxes, RGB cell tribute to Kurokawa’s Nakagin capsule... More

Project • By Montse Zamorano | Architecture PhotographyApartments

One Madison

One Madison is a graceful 50-story, 155,000 SF residential tower located in Manhattan’s Flatiron District. Architectural challenges included creating a modern form that respected the context of the surrounding neighborhood and Madison Square Park while creating a visual dialogue with the adjacent historical high rise buildings that occupy the edges of the park. Taking cues from the Metabolist movement of the late ‘60’s and early 70s, One Madison employs a modular, plug-in design concept articulated through “pods” cantilevered to the north and east of the main tower shaft, providing residents with 360 views of New York City and beyond. Facing Madison Square Park, at the intersection of two major thoroughfares, 23rd Street and Madison Avenue... More

Project • By LAVA ArchitectsVillages

DIGITAL ORIGAMI EMERGENCY SHELTER

Disaster strikes. How can architects help quickly, efficiently, sustainably and sensitively? LAVA's solution is an origami cave. It features in a new exhibition in Sydney. LAVA’s Digital Origami Emergency Shelter is a concept for an inhabited molecule. The design is based on a water-molecule, referencing the Japanese Metabolist movement`s idea of prefabricated capsules as living space. The base molecule can be shipped as a flat pack, cut out of local plywood, or dropped off by a helicopter. The interior can then be carved out of wood, cardboard, newspapers or other locally available materials. Chris Bosse said: ‘the project plays with ideas of prefabrication and personalised inhabitation, as well as stacking of multiple units,... More

Project • By CetraRuddyApartments

One Madison Park

Taking cues from the Metabolist movement of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, One Madison Park (OMP), employs a modular, plug-in design concept articulated through “pods”. These cube-like forms deconstruct the building’s mass and give it a sense of lightness while also creating a variety of units. Cantilevered from the main shaft, the pods also extend the tower’s 2,700 SF floor plate to 3,300 SF. This unique feature grew out of the need to expedite construction and from the desire to offer a mix of apartment types, some with terraces. OMP’s design utilizes lateral bracing placed in the center instead of around the perimeter, forming a cruciform of shear walls, buried between rooms and shafts, minimizing the impact to room layouts. The 50-sto... More