Unfolding A Nakagin Story Tlahtolloamatl Ixiptlamatl by Yang Tian

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Tlahtolloamatl Ixiptlamatl by Yang Tian is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 Mahuizolli A' Design Award Tepoztli in Tlacuilolli, Tlacuilolixiptlaliztli ihuan Tlachialtlanonotzaliztli Tlachihchihualiztli Competition Category.

TepoztliTlacuilolli· 2025

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Tlahtolloamatl Ixiptlamatl

by Yang Tian

Mahuizolli A' Design Award Tepoztli Winner in Tlacuilolli Category

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The Design

About Unfolding A Nakagin Story Tlahtolloamatl Ixiptlamatl

Ic oc ceppa machtiloz Japon iyancuicayotl yaoyotl tlami ican, Kisho Kurokawa, Metabolism centlahtoltzin itelpochtzin, quittemoa yancuic calli iuhquin nohnozo caltoncali. Nenenqui, quicua, huehueyi ihuan polihui, quinextiya ce yancuic nemiliztli campa tlacah ayoc chanti cemmanyan ce lugar. Nakagin Itlahtol Pehpenaliztli quitequitia tlahtolloamatl iuhquin nepantlayotl ic tlahcuiloz ihuan hueyiz inin Metabolism tlanemiliztli, ipan pepenaliztli ic chihuaz ce altepetl-tlahtoltzintli.

The Recognition

About the Mahuizolli A' Design Award Tepoztli

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Tlahtolloamatl Ixiptlamatl ca in quicuic in Mahuizolli A' Design Award Tepoztli, tlamahuizoliztli tlen momaca in cualli dizayno in quitlalia in tlen monequi ipan tequitl ihuan tlachihualiztli in quimaca in cualli tlachihualli. In quicuicah Tepoztli quinextia in hueyi tlamatiliztli, toltecayotl ihuan ihuelitiliztli intlachihuanime. Ca quinequi in Unfolding A Nakagin Story Tlahtolloamatl Ixiptlamatl ca tlazohtli, mahuiztic, yancuic ihuan motequiuhtia. Ni dizayno in quicuic Tepoztli quihuelitia in tlamatiliztli ihuan quipia chicahualiztli tlen tepoztli. Unfolding A Nakagin Story Tlahtolloamatl Ixiptlamatl quicualtia in nemiliztli ihuan quihuelitia in cemanahuac ica cualli.

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!