Kenzo Tange
Architect Kenzo Tange’s best-known early work is the Hiroshima Peace Center. His later work includes the dramatic National Gymnasium for the 1964 Olympic Games.
Synopsis
Kenzo Tange was born September 4, 1913 in Osaka, Japan. His best-known early work is the Hiroshima Peace Center. Later works include the Shizoka Press and Broadcasting Center, the dramatic National Gymnasium for the 1964 Olympic Games, and the theme pavilion for the 1970 Osaka Exposition. His design for the New Tokyo City Hall Complex established his reputation in Japan and internationally.
Profile
Architect, born in Osaka, Japan. He was raised in Imbari and studied architecture at the Tokyo Imperial University (1935–8, 1942–5), where he became professor (1949–74, then emeritus). His best-known early work is the Hiroshima Peace Centre (1949–55). Later works include the Shizoka Press and Broadcasting Centre (1966–7), the dramatic National Gymnasium for the 1964 Olympic Games, and the theme pavilion for the 1970 Osaka Exposition. His design for the New Tokyo City Hall Complex was selected in 1986 and established his reputation in Japan and internationally. His ‘Plan for Tokyo’ received world-wide attention for its new concepts of extending the growth of the city out over the bay, using bridges, man-made islands, floating parking, and megastructures. Symbolic of this period is the Fuji Television Building in Odaiba, completed in 1996. His highly influential published works include A Plan for Tokyo (1960) and Toward a Structural Reorganization (1960). He was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1987.
