Kikutake, Kiyonori (1928– ). Japanese architect, a leading light in Metabolism, committed to adaptability, as expressed in his visionary designs for cities. His Sky House, Tokyo (1958–9—a single volume elevated on piers with scope for hanging future rooms when needed below it), made his reputation, while in the 1960s his Tower Shaped Community (1958), with a main spine-like element for services to which cylinders containing the living-apartments could be fixed, was publicized in Metabolism: Proposals for a New Urbanism (1960), a document which also proposed Marine City, an extension of Tokyo into the sea. Arguing that elements most likely to change should be designed for ease of replacement, he disposed the services around the open living-space of the Sky-House, and attached the bathroom-units to the external walls of the Pacific Hotel, Chigasaki (1966). At Aquapolis, Okinawa (1975), the concept of extending cities into the sea was partially realized. Other works include Miyakonoyo Civic Hall (1966—with a light, collapsible roof-structure), the Administration Building, Shrine of Izumo (1963), and the Tokoen Hotel, Yonago (1964). Like their Archigram colleagues in Britain, the Metabolists proposed prefabricated pods and cells which could be fixed to frames or some kind of central structure, often of monumental character, the pods (as variables) being given insubstantial architectural treatment. Other works include the Pasadena Heights terrace-housing, Mishima (1972–4), and the huge Edo-Tokyo Museum, Tokyo (1980–92). In 1978 he published Kiyonori Kikutake: Concepts and Planning.

Bibliography

Bognar (1985, 1990, 1995);
R. Boyd (1968);
Wi. Curtis (1996);
Kalman (1994);
Kikutake (1973, 1997);
Kurokawa (1972, 1977);
Placzek (ed.) (1982);
Ross (1978);
Jane Turner (1996)