The Many Lives of theNakagin Capsule Tower

At MoMA, *The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower* traces the afterlife of Tokyo’s 1972 modular landmark, built for a future of interchangeable parts and short-term urban living. Through archival material and close observation, the exhibition follows how the building shifted from manifesto to maintenance problem, and finally to demolition and dispersal. For New York audiences, it reads as a timely case study in preservation debates that echo local fights over modernist housing and office stock. The work’s clearest point is also its most sobering: flexibility on paper can become fragility in practice.