Kenzo Tange

 Born 4 September 1913 in Osaka, Japan

 Graduate from University of Tokyo in 1938
 Worked for Kunio Maekawa until 1941
 Studied city planning at the graduate school
at the University of Tokyo after which he
assumed a position as an assistant Professor
of architecture
 Received degree in engineering in 1959
 2 years later established Kenzo Tange +
URTEC which later became Kenzo Tange
Associates
 Served as Professor of Urban Engineering at
the University of Tokyo from 1963 to 1974
when retired as Professor emeritus.
 Died 22 March 2005 in Tokyo, Japan
Design approaches and reflection
Combination of traditional
Japanese styles with modernism
Influenced from an early age by
the Swiss modernist, Le Corbusier
Boldly spare and elegent style
Blending Japanese and Western
aesthetic principles
Influential as a teacher of modern
architecture
Captured the spirit of a rapidly
developing Japan
Awards
 RIBA Gold Medal
 AIA Gold Medal
 Pritzker Prize
 Order of Culture
 Order of Sacred Treasures
PROJECTS

The Ise Shrine

St. Mary's Cathedral (Tokyo
Cathedral), Tokyo
Tange's own home
The Kagawa Prefectural Government
Hall
 Town Hall, Kurashiki

Osaka Exposition 1970

 Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Hiroshima, Japan
 Initial design of the Museum was
dominated by adjoining utility
buildings, which were linked to it by
high-level walkways
 Tange refined this concept to place
the museum prominently at the
centre, separate from the utility
buildings
 For architectural symbolism,
thought it’s important for the design
to centre around the building that
houses the information about the
atomic explosion
 Constructed from bare reinforced
concrete
 The primary museum floor lifted six metres
above the ground on huge piloti and
accessible via a free standing staircase
 The rhythmical facade comprises vertical
elements that repeat outwards from the
centre
 Like the exterior, the interior finished with
rough concrete to keep the surfaces plain so
that nothing could distract the visitor from
the contents of the exhibits
 The Peace Plaza, the backdrop for the
museum was designed to allow
50,000 people to gather around the peace
monument in the centre.
 Designed the monument as an arch
composed of two hyperbolic paraboloids,
said to be based on traditional Japanese
ceremonial tombs from the Kofun Period

Children's Peace monument

 Genbaku dome
Hiroshima Peace Bell

Memorial Cenotaph and Peace Flame

 Tokyo Olympics Gymnasium
Tokyo, Japan
Situated in an open area in Yoyogi
Park
Built between 1961 and 1964 to
house swimming and diving events in
the 1964 Tokyo Olympics Games
smaller pavilion holds
approximately 5,300 people whereas
the national gymnasium holds 10500
people
Mainly used to house ice hockey
and basketball
Inspired from Le Corbusier’s
Philip’s Pavilion and Eero Saarinen’s
hockey stadium
Was the largest suspended roof
span in the world when completed
Philips pavilion

Yale University's
hockey stadium
Hybridization of western
modernist aesthetics and
traditional Japanese architecture
Inspired by the skyline of
the Colosseum
Dramatic sweeping curves appear
to effortlessly wrap from two large,
central supporting cables
Integrate his building into the
landscape
The structure and the roof originates
from central structural spine
Two reinforced concrete pillars
support a prestressed steel net onto
which steel plates are attached
The gymnasium’s structural system
resembles a snails shell, but the
gymnasiums low profile and sweeping
roof forms some semblance to
Japanese pagoda
Won Pritzker Prize for the design