Metabolism represents architecture and urbanity as mechanical in organization.
In fact, it might be argued that metabolism is simply a catalyst for modern functionalism, in that it tries to satisfy both a modernist sensibility for logical organization and a more progressive inclination for issues of diversity and complexity. The metabolists, then, conceive of architecture as essentially functionalist and yet more complex than what a conventional, modernist scheme might propose. In 1961 Kenzo Tange's studio proposed a plan for Tokyo Bay that embodied the basic principles of metabolism. The project comprised a spine, or trunk, and an array of branch and leaf elements that together formed a clear tree-like structure. The use of a tree-like structure as an organizational model, however, proved to be problematic.