Another project that helped Japanese architects create a showcase for innovation in architecture was the Joint Core System (or City in the Air) which was developed in 1960 by Arata Isozaki. His plan included a multi-layered city with highways and parking structures woven between compounds of offices and apartments. In the original sketches, these structures look like trees, growing side by side. The branches function like passageways to living units, while the trunks act as large supports. This project is sometimes referred to as ‘Clusters in the Air,’ as the trees develop and create a forest-like structure.

The race for space

Architect Kisho Kurokawa was a leader in the Metabolism movement in the 1960s, and his first Metabolic structure, Helix City, was prompted by a growing lack of space in Japan. The idea was to build a structure that functioned more efficiently and sensibly. Constructed with an organic design made up of a series of linked, helical structures, Helix City relies upon service towers that are connected by an infrastructure of bridges over both land and sea. Residential buildings fill in gaps in between the towers, creating a pattern that could hypothetically continue endlessly. This design was inspired by the 1953 discovery of DNA, a significant turning point for the study of life forms.