Unfolding A Nakagin Story Krantenposter by Yang Tian

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Krantenposter by Yang Tian is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award in IJzer in Grafisch, Illustratie en Visuele Communicatie Ontwerp Competition Category.

IJzerGrafisch· 2025

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Krantenposter

by Yang Tian

A' Design Award in IJzer Winner in Grafisch 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 Krantenposter

Om de moderniteit van Japan na de oorlog opnieuw te definiëren, stelt Kisho Kurokawa, het jongste lid van de Metabolism-groep, zich moderne woningen voor als individuele cellen. Ze bewegen, verteren, groeien en vergaan, en vormen zo een nieuwe samenleving waarin mensen niet langer in een vaste ruimte leven. Unfolding a Nakagin Story gebruikt de krant als medium om deze Metabolism-verbeelding te documenteren en uit te breiden, door het ontvouwen een stedelijk verhaal te fabriceren.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award in IJzer

Unfolding A Nakagin Story Krantenposter is winnaar van de A' Design Award in IJzer, een prestigieuze erkenning die wordt toegekend aan goede ontwerpen die voldoen aan de professionele en industriële eisen die worden verwacht van goed ontworpen creaties. Winnaars in IJzer tonen grote vaardigheid, hoge specialisatie, deskundig inzicht en het creatieve vermogen van hun makers. Unfolding A Nakagin Story Krantenposter wordt verwacht een hooggewaardeerde, bewonderde en gekoesterde creatie te zijn die praktisch en innovatief is. Dit ontwerp dat de A' Design Award in IJzer heeft gewonnen, integreert de beste praktijken uit de sector en heeft bekwame technische kenmerken die verbonden zijn met knowhow en talent. Unfolding A Nakagin Story Krantenposter wordt gerespecteerd om zijn grondigheid en is ontworpen om verbeteringen van de levenskwaliteit te bieden die helpen de wereld een betere plek te maken.

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!