Unfolding A Nakagin Story Koerantplakkaat by Yang Tian

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Koerantplakkaat by Yang Tian is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award in Yster in Grafika-, Illustrasie- en Visuele Kommunikasie-ontwerp Competition Category.

YsterGrafika· 2025

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Koerantplakkaat

by Yang Tian

A' Design Award in Yster Winner in Grafika Category

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Verified Award Winner
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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Unfolding A Nakagin Story Koerantplakkaat

Om Japan se moderniteit na die oorlog te heridentifiseer, verbeel Kisho Kurokawa, die jongste lid van die Metabolisme-groep, moderne behuising as individuele selle. Hulle beweeg, verteer, groei en verval, wat 'n nuwe samelewing vorm waar mense nie meer in 'n vaste ruimte woon nie. Ontvouiing van 'n Nakagin-verhaal gebruik die koerant as 'n medium om hierdie Metabolisme-verbeelding te dokumenteer en uit te brei deur ontvouiing wat 'n stedelike verhaal skep.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award in Yster

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Koerantplakkaat is 'n wenner van die A' Design Award in Yster, 'n prestigieuse erkenning wat toegeken word aan goeie ontwerpe wat voldoen aan die professionele en industriële vereistes wat van goed ontwerpte skeppings verwag word. Wenners in Yster toon groot vaardigheid, hoë spesialisasie, kundige begrip en die kreatiewe vermoë van hul skeppers. Daar word verwag dat Unfolding A Nakagin Story Koerantplakkaat 'n hoog aangeskrewe, bewonderde en gekoesterde skepping is wat prakties en innoverend is. Hierdie ontwerp wat die A' Design Award in Yster gewen het, integreer die beste praktyke in die bedryf en het bekwame tegniese kenmerke gekoppel aan kundigheid en talent. Unfolding A Nakagin Story Koerantplakkaat word gerespekteer vir sy deeglikheid en is ontwerp om verbeterings in lewensgehalte te bied wat help om die wêreld 'n beter plek te maak.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: To re-identify Japan’s Modernity after the war, Kisho Kurokawa, the youngest Metabolism group member, imagines modern housing as individual cells. They move, digest, grow, and decay, informing a new society where people no longer live in a fixed space. Unfolding a Nakagin Story uses the newspaper as a medium to document and expand this Metabolism imagination, through “unfolding” to fabricate an urban story.
Dimensions & Packaging: Cover: 8" X 12"

Newspaper: 16" x 24"
Tags: Nakagin, Metabolism, Heritage, Housing, Urbanism
Production Technology: Graphics are done in Photoshop and Illustrator, the architecture is modeled in Rhino with a grasshopper plugin to change patterns and orientation.
Design Challenge: How can we capture the concept of Metabolism, where buildings can grow and shrink over time? How should I identify individual differences while the building comprises the same rectangular blocks? These are the two biggest challenges I need to solve. By using newspaper as the medium, one can feel the growth through unfolding the paper. One can also read individual stories despite repeating units by showing the interior information of selected blocks.
Research: Focusing on post-war Japanese architecture, Metabolism was the most influential architectural movement from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Kisha Kurokawa changed the Western design ideology of FORM (ETERNAL) based living style to TIME (CHANGING) based living space. The Nakagin Capsule Tower is an iconic architecture that not only embraces ephemeral but also changes a collective to an individual-oriented living style.
Inspiration: To embrace the idea of flexibility and updating, the newspaper is a great medium as a representation tool. Newspaper changes every day with new information and unfolding it to gain new information reinforces the idea of metabolism. By unfolding the project, each time, the capsule patterns, window colors, shapes, and orientation change within an oblique neutral grid.
Project Duration: Duration: 3 months

Location: Boston, MA, USA
Operation Flow: You could unfold it three times, each time, the capsule patterns, window colors, shapes, and orientation change within an oblique neutral grid, and 7 capsules have been highlighted to expose the interior activities of an individual with personal information next to it. Individual yet connected, neutral yet different for each capsule. You will experience the beauty of the Nakagin capsule tower after you unfold its stories!