Unfolding A Nakagin Story Daim Ntawv Xov Xwm Tshaj Tawm by Yang Tian

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Daim Ntawv Xov Xwm Tshaj Tawm by Yang Tian is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award Hlau in Tsim Duab Kos, Duab Piav thiab Kev Sib Txuas Lus Pom Competition Category.

HlauDuab Kos· 2025

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Daim Ntawv Xov Xwm Tshaj Tawm

by Yang Tian

A' Design Award Hlau Winner in Duab Kos Category

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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Unfolding A Nakagin Story Daim Ntawv Xov Xwm Tshaj Tawm

Txhawm rau rov txheeb xyuas Nyiv teb chaws txoj kev niaj hnub tom qab tsov rog, Kisho Kurokawa, tus tswv cuab hluas tshaj plaws ntawm pawg Metabolism, xav txog cov tsev nyob niaj hnub zoo li cov hlwb ib leeg. Lawv txav mus los, zom zaub mov, loj hlob, thiab lwj, qhia txog ib lub zej zog tshiab uas tib neeg tsis nyob hauv qhov chaw ruaj khov ntxiv lawm. Nthuav Tawm Nakagin Zaj Dab Neeg siv ntawv xov xwm ua qhov nruab nrab los sau cia thiab nthuav qhov kev xav txog Metabolism no, los ntawm kev nthuav tawm los tsim ib zaj dab neeg hauv nroog.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Hlau

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Daim Ntawv Xov Xwm Tshaj Tawm yog tus yeej ntawm A' Design Award Hlau, ib qho kev lees paub muaj meej mom uas muab rau cov qauv tsim zoo uas ua tau raws li cov kev xav tau ntawm kev ua haujlwm thiab kev lag luam uas xav tau los ntawm cov khoom tsim zoo. Cov neeg yeej Hlau qhia txog kev txawj loj, kev paub tshwj xeeb siab, kev nkag siab ntawm cov kws tshaj lij thiab lub peev xwm tsim ntawm cov neeg tsim. Unfolding A Nakagin Story Daim Ntawv Xov Xwm Tshaj Tawm xav tias yuav yog ib qho khoom tsim uas neeg hwm, qhuas thiab hlub uas siv tau thiab tsim tshiab. Cov qauv tsim yeej A' Design Award Hlau no sib xyaw cov kev coj ua zoo tshaj plaws ntawm kev lag luam thiab muaj cov yam ntxwv siv tshuab txawj ntse txuas nrog kev paub thiab txuj ci. Unfolding A Nakagin Story Daim Ntawv Xov Xwm Tshaj Tawm tau txais kev hwm vim nws tag nrho thiab tsim los muab kev txhim kho rau lub neej uas pab ua rau lub ntiaj teb zoo dua.

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!