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Kiyonori Kikutake, Marine City, Floating Platform, Megastructure, Growth

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Kiyonori Kikutake, Marine City, Floating Platform, Megastructure, Growth Architecture Research 2016, 6(4): 98-106 DOI: 10.5923/j.arch.20160604.03 On the Formal Characteristics of Kiyonori Kikutake’s ‘Marine City’ Projects Published at the Turn of the 50’s and 60’s Agnes Nyilas Department of Human Environmental Design, Sugiyama Jogakuen University, Nagoya, Japan Abstract ‘Marine City’ projects by Kiyonori Kikutake are the first and most influential proposals to build ‘Megastructures’ into the sea after the dissolution of CIAM. They include two basic types: the ‘Floating Structure’ as a concentric and city-scale type, and the ‘Linear Ocean City’ as a linear and national-scale type. As part of an ongoing research on ‘Megastructure’ proposals by the ‘Metabolism’ group, the paper focuses on the ‘Floating Structure’ with floating horizontal plates, the ‘Floating Platform’, as one of the inventive examples of the ‘Megastructure’ and its ‘artificial land’. The three projects, which are based on the ‘Floating Platform’, are analyzed in order to illustrate the characteristics of Kikutake’s ‘Megastructure’ and its ‘artificial land’. Analyses are carried out for the support-relations of ‘Floating Platform’ and the interrelations among structural and spatial elements on the building scale, as well as for the support-relations among structural elements, the functional zoning, and growth patterns on the city scale. Through the analyses, an essential difference between Marine City Project, 1958 and the other two projects is found in accordance with their difference of scale and – based on it – a shift in Kikutake’s approach is discussed respectively. Keywords Kiyonori Kikutake, Marine City, Floating Platform, Megastructure, Growth 4, where the whole world is submerged under water1). Apart 1. Introduction from those fictions however, the first real underwater habitats – Conshelf I, II & III – were actually built on the In the last few years, futurists began to reconsider the bottom of the sea in the 1960’s by Jacques Cousteau’s team. ocean as a potential escape space for the worst–case Already before the success of Cousteau’s team, the scenario of various environmental threats as well as in case Japanese architect Kiyonori Kikutake (1928-2011), a core of overpopulation on land. Among visionary proposals for member of the ‘Metabolism’ group2), proposed his original floating or underwater cities, Alexander Remizov’s idea of ‘Marine City’ in 19593), and its concept has widely Floating Bioclimatic Ark Project, Phil Pauley’s spread through the publication of “Metabolism 1960”4). Sub-Biosphere 2, NLÉ’s African Water Cities Project and According to the manifesto, ‘Marine City’ is “a unit” of a Prototype Floating School for Makoko, or Shimizu “new human community in the sea”5), an answer to the Corporation’s Green Float Project and Ocean Spiral decreasing living standard and the unstable political and Project are perhaps the most well-known examples. And social situation due to the limitation of land6). However, indeed, some hotels already offer underwater rooms, and “the purpose of Marine City is neither intend to enlarge the several fully submerged resorts are due to be built, like land nor to escape from the land”7), but ‘Marine City’ is Poseidon Resorts in Fiji or Water Discus in Dubai. rather considered as a new urban archetype for living on the However, living under or above the sea is not an entirely sea. The original idea was followed by several ‘Marine City’ new idea. The belief of an underwater civilization dates at projects that Kikutake summarized retrospectively in a later least as far back as ancient Greece (Atlantis myth), and publication8). He himself positioned ‘Marine City’ among since then the fiction of building permanent communities ‘Megastructure’9) proposals because of its attempt to under the sea has spread into diverse stories, like Captain integrate architecture with the scale of the city10). However, Nemo’s Nautilus submarine, James Bond's underwater base, in absence of a comprehensive analysis, his ‘Marine City’ Gungan city in the Star Wars or Kobo Abe’s Inter Ice Age proposals have never been fully discussed, something that would be necessary to understand their importance in the * Corresponding author: [email protected] (Agnes Nyilas) historical development of the idea of floating cities. Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/arch In the reconstruction of postwar Japan, the issue of “how Copyright © 2016 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved to cope with reality” was understandably taken to first Architecture Research 2016, 6(4): 98-106 99 priority, that is why – as Imamura Sohei has claimed11) – pavilion, designed for the Okinawa Marine Exposition, visionary and essentially conceptual ideas like Kikutake’s 1975 – worldwide the first semi-submersible floating ‘Marine City’ were mostly neglected. Even Yatsuka Hajime, pavilion and miniature city – and he evaluated other a central figure of ‘Metabolism’ research in Japan, basically projects in relation to it. Before explaining the concept of skated over the subject of ‘Marine City’ in his book titled Aquapolis in detail, Kikutake described ‘Marine City’ “Metabolism: The Architectural Avant-garde of the 60’s”12), projects published before Aquapolis in terms of the process which is the most detailed publication on ‘Metabolism’ of developing the idea of ‘Marine City’ towards realization. movement. Imamura also emphasized in his evaluation that In this process, he distinguished two phases: the period ‘Marine City’ projects differ entirely from other visionary before 1968, which comprised the original idea of ‘Marine projects of that era due to Kikutake’s sincere and serious City’ based on floating horizontal plates, and the period attitude and because he has consistently supported and between 1968 and 1975, when his interest shifted towards developed the original idea for several decades. But he also the creation of ‘Marine City’ through floating “vertical mentioned, that Kikutake’s seriousness might be another shafts”22). reason why his proposals were often discredited in Japan as Here the focus is on ‘Floating Structures’ with floating a result of his “madness”13). Nevertheless, Imamura did horizontal plates, the ‘Floating Platform’23), because they emphasize the importance of Kikutake’s ‘Marine City’, are rather considered as the ‘Megastructure’ and its which he regarded as predecessor of the artificial island of ‘artificial land’24), supported by the floating ‘Vertical Kansai International Airport. Communities’25) as buoys. However, among the four It was easier for foreign critiques to notice the latent projects designed before 1968, Shallow-sea Type potential of the idea of ‘Marine City’. Frank P. Davidson Community Project, 1963 already represents a shift towards asserted that the idea of “artificial island can help meet the idea of floating vertical shafts, and is therefore not some of the more pressing social and environmental included in the analysis. Hence three projects, namely problems of modern times”14). Like Imamura, Maurizio Marine City Project, 1958, Marine City Unabara Project, Vitta appreciated the conceptual consistency of Kikutake’s 1960 and Marine City Project, 1963 are analyzed here in approach towards architecture as well, in which the order to investigate the formal characteristics of ‘Marine principle of growth – the central concept of the ‘Marine City’ and it’s ‘Floating Platform’. The support-relations of City’ proposals – has played an important role15). In contrast, the ‘Floating Platform’ are investigated first to define its Zhongjie Lin has missed the point: he focused mainly on structural mechanisms in relation to other elements. It is the social utopia, and for him ‘Marine City’ was just an followed by the analysis of floating ‘Vertical Communities’ idealistic city model of the past. In spite of the fact that a on the building scale. Floating ‘Vertical Communities’ are miniature version of Kikutake’s ‘Marine City’ was analyzed in regard to their interrelations among their physically realized some years later as Aquapolis for the structural and spatial elements, and compared to Kikutake’s Okinawa Marine Exposition, Lin has claimed that “it has by Tower-shaped Community Project, 1958, the first among no means proved that such artificial islands could sustain ‘Megastructure’ proposals of ‘Metabolism’. On the city the social organization that the Metabolists envisioned”16). scale, projects are analyzed in regard to the In “Project Japan: Metabolism Talks…”17), which is the support-relations among structural elements, functional newest and most extensive publication on ‘Metabolism’ zoning and growth patterns. The conclusion is derived by movement in English, Rem Koolhaas described the political comparing the projects, and – based on it – a shift in background of governmental support for Kikutake’s Kikutake’s approach is discussed respectively. ‘Marine City’ research at Hawaii University, a fact that was basically unknown for the foreign audience before. According to Koolhaas, Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka 2. Structural Mechanism of ‘Floating and US President Nixon were planning to construct a Platform’ floating school based on American and Japanese The diagram (Fig.1) in “Proposed Design of Marine City corporation, but in the end the project collapsed18). by Kiyonori Kikutake, 1959”26) explains five structural Unfortunately, the book does not contain any detailed solutions for the construction of ‘Floating Platforms’. descriptions of that project. Evaluated from the ways of balancing weight
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