Unfolding A Nakagin Story Peita Niupepa by Yang Tian

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Peita Niupepa by Yang Tian is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award Rino in Hoahoa Whakairoiro, Whakaahua Ringa me te Whakawhitiwhiti Ataata Competition Category.

RinoWhakairoiro· 2025

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Peita Niupepa

by Yang Tian

A' Design Award Rino Winner in Whakairoiro 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 Peita Niupepa

Hei tautuhi anō i te Āhuatanga Hou-ao o Hapana i muri i te pakanga, ko Kisho Kurokawa, te mema taiohi rawa o te rōpū Metabolism, e whakaaro ana i ngā whare hou-ao hei pūtau takitahi. Ka neke, ka whakapāpā, ka tupu, ka pirau rātou, e whakaatu ana i tētahi hapori hou kāore e noho tonu ai ngā tāngata ki tētahi wāhi pūmau. Ko te Whakatuwhera i tētahi Kōrero Nakagin e whakamahi ana i te niupepa hei rauemi hei tuhituhinga, hei whakawhānui hoki i tēnei whakaaro Metabolism, mā te whakatuwhera hei waihanga kōrero tāone.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Rino

Ko Unfolding A Nakagin Story Peita Niupepa te toa o te A' Design Award Rino, he whakaaetanga whai mana e hoatu ana ki ngā hoahoa pai e whakatutuki ana i ngā hiahia ngaio me te ahumahi e tūmanakohia ana mai i ngā mahi kua hoahoatia pai. Ko ngā toa Rino e whakaatu ana i te pukenga nui, te tohungatanga teitei, te māramatanga mātanga me te kaha auaha o ō rātou kaihanga. E tūmanakohia ana ko Unfolding A Nakagin Story Peita Niupepa he mahi whakanuia, whakamīharotia, aroha nui, he whaihua, he auaha hoki. Ko tēnei hoahoa i toa i te Rino e whakakotahi ana i ngā tikanga pai rawa o te ahumahi, ā, he āhuatanga hangarau pūkenga tōna e hono ana ki te mōhio me te pūmanawa. E whakahonoretia ana a Unfolding A Nakagin Story Peita Niupepa mō tōna tōtika, ā, i hoahoatia hei whakapai ake i te kounga o te oranga me te āwhina i te ao kia pai ake.

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!