Digesting Metabolism: Artificial Land in Japan Book Launch

Digesting Metabolism investigates the impact on Japanese housing of Le Corbusier’s idea of ‘artificial land’. Long buried by the term ‘megastructure’ that it inspired, artificial land joins the individual and collective, envisioning housing as stacked platforms of plots for building freestanding homes of all varieties. First introduced to Japan in 1954 by Le Corbusier’s protégé, Takamasa Yosizaka, artificial land is an essential concept for the Metabolists – a group who made their debut in Tokyo in 1960. Yet this concept has held strong within Japan’s metabolic imagination well beyond the 1960s, promising domestic satisfaction and environmental resilience from the post-war period through into today’s government policies.

Digesting Metabolism uncovers this unique Japanese history and its possible future, identifying examples of infrastructure, adaptation and dweller control that challenge commodified models of housing around the world.

Author Casey Mack (b 1973) is an architect and the director of Brooklyn-based Popular Architecture. His work has been published in Harvard Design Magazine, OASE, The Avery Review and Domus China.

We are delighted to welcome Casey Mack to the AA Bookshop to celebrate the launch of this new publication over refreshments. The event will be introduced by former AA Unit Master David Kohn of David Kohn Architects.

Launch Price: £40

RRP: £48