Summary

In Part II it was found that Metabolism proposals contain several references to the properties of ‘living systems’. However, each of their proposals differs in their emphases and applications. In Kikutake’s ‘Vertical Communities’ the phenomenon of self-maintenance is revealed in the flexibility of living units for change , while integrity of the system is maintained simultaneously through a set of closure relations (in the ‘tower-shaped’ type) or the scaling hierarchy (in the ‘tree-shaped’ type). In turn, the phenomenon of self-transformation is not evident in any single proposal, but it can be understood through the sequences of different proposals when seen in chronological order. Also, ‘Marine City’ proposals are very clear examples of the direct analogy of basic ‘life’ principles, such as reproduction , growth or evolution . Here reproduction and growth are in accordance with the phenomenon of self-transformation; however, Kikutake’s approach is less systemic and more symbolic in ‘Marine City’ proposals than in ‘Vertical Communities’. Moreover, in both Kurokawa’s and Kawazoe’s discourse the principle of metabolism is stressed as the most essential among others, while Megastructure proposals by Kurokawa are found to have the basically same formal structure as Kikutake’s Tower-Shaped Community’s. Still, in Kurokawa’s proposals the biological analogy is rather straightforward with low adaptation capacity to an architectural language, while in Kikutake’s proposals the metaphor is abstract: It developed towards a more systemic approach. In Tange’s proposals this systemic approach grew to even higher degrees of complexity. The phenomenon of self-maintenance is apparent in his ‘Bay Projects’, where living units (as well as dwelling blocks in A Plan for Tokyo, 1960 ) can be flexibly changed , but the integrity of the overall system is ensured through the combination of closure relations and scaling hierarchy. Furthermore, in Tange’s proposals one can find the phenomenon of self-transformation through an increase in the system’s complexity suggested by the flexibility for linear extension along the double-axes.