Kurokawa, Kisho

Kurokawa, Kisho

(1934–2007)A student of Kenzo Tange, Kurokawa cofounded the Metabolism Movement in 1960. Kurokawa was cast onto the world stage when three of his buildings were constructed for the Osaka World Expo of 1970, and a year later he was a finalist for the design of Pompidou Center in Paris. In 1972 his Nakagin Capsule Tower was constructed in Tokyo. It featured 140 pods that were prefabricated offsite and attached with four bolts onto a central tower. Among his many other notable projects are the National Ethnological Museum in Osaka, the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, a new wing of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, and Tokyo’s National Arts Center. For the 1998 Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kurokawa transplanted a tropical rain forest into a design based on Islamic domes.