shyue woon revisits ginza's nakagin tower block for 'capsule' photography book

as the second book in shyue woon’s DARK CITIES trilogy, ‘capsule’ illustrates an imaginary narrative of tokyo‘s famous nakagin capsule tower. portrayed by a series of photographs, the book tells the story of an architect, kisho kurokawa, who is trapped inside his own design and trying desperately to escape.

all images courtesy of shyue woon

the nakagin capsule tower was built in 1972 and is situated in the ginza neighborhood of tokyo. designed by kisho kurokawa, the 13-story block contains a mixture of residential and office space and became famous for its futuristic, modular style. today, the tower has fallen into disrepair, but it is still known as a hallmark of innovative and unconventional architecture. 

architect and photographer, shyue woon explains, ‘I grew obsessed with the tower and its madly visionary architect – by bringing the future into the present, and the tragedy of not able to dictate the evolution once human/economics imperfection intervenes. I attempt to construct an imaginary kafkaesque narrative on someone (the architect) being trapped in his own tubula-rasa, trying to escape for the crumbling meta-textual stage of his own creation.’

‘capsule’ is the second book from woon’s DARK CITIES trilogy, alongside ‘carpark’ and ‘euljiro’. marking his debut, the project is a series of three books of photographs re-imagining fringe spaces in the metropoles of singapore, tokyo and seoul.

book info:

book name: capsule

by: shyue woon

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynne myers | designboom