Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2011

In the 1950s, a group of Japanese architects envisaged an organic process for urban housing they dubbed “Metabolism.” A half-century later, architect Koh Kitayama curated a look at this movement at the 2010 Japanese pavilion at the Venice Biennale. “Tokyo Metabolizing” presents full-scale houses from firms influenced by Metabolism such as Kitayama, Atelier Bow-Wow and Sanaa that point the way to a flexibly structured megacities designed to foster community and overcome the isolation of “one-room mansions.”

Tokyo Opera City Gallery, through Oct 2 (listing).