Kenzo Tange

Kenzo Tange was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century, who combined traditional Japanese styles with modernism and designed major buildings on five continents. He was also a leader of the Metabolist movement, which envisioned dynamic and organic megastructures for urban planning. He won many prestigious awards, including the Pritzker Prize, the RIBA Gold Medal, and the AIA Gold Medal. Tange was born in Sakai, Japan, in 1913. He spent his early life in China, where his father worked as a merchant. He returned to Japan after the death of his uncle and moved to Hiroshima to attend high school. There he discovered the works of Le Corbusier, the Swiss modernist architect, and decided to pursue architecture as a career. He enrolled in the University of Tokyo in 1935 and studied under Hideto Kishida and Shozo Uchida. He was fascinated by the photographs of Katsura Imperial Villa, a masterpiece of traditional Japanese architecture, and also by the drawings of the Palace of the Soviets, a monumental project by Le Corbusier. After graduating in 1938, Tange worked for Kunio Maekawa, a former apprentice of Le Corbusier, and learned the principles of modern architecture. He also joined the Tange Laboratory, a research group of young architects and engineers led by Tange. He completed his doctoral dissertation on the structure of Tokyo city in 1959 and became a professor at the University of Tokyo. Tange gained international recognition in 1949 when he won the competition for the design of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, a symbol of peace and reconstruction after the atomic bombing. He designed a museum that was lifted on concrete pillars, creating a dramatic contrast with the ruins of the Atomic Bomb Dome. He also planned a park that integrated the natural and urban elements of the site, and a cenotaph that inscribed the names of the victims. Tange continued to design innovative and influential buildings, such as the Kagawa Prefectural Office, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the Yoyogi National Gymnasium for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the St. Mary's Cathedral, and the Shizuoka Convention Hall. He also handled urban redevelopment projects, such as the Tokyo Bay Plan, the Plan for Skopje, and the Expo '70 in Osaka. He collaborated with other architects, such as Fumihiko Maki, Kisho Kurokawa, and Arata Isozaki, and formed the Metabolist group, which proposed futuristic and flexible urban structures that could grow and change according to human needs. Tange also designed buildings in other countries, such as the United Nations University in New York, the Kuwait International Airport, the Singapore National Library, and the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka in Tokyo. He received many honors and awards, such as the Order of Culture, the Praemium Imperiale, and the Pritzker Prize, the highest award in architecture. He also served as the president of the International Union of Architects and the Japan Institute of Architects. Tange died of heart failure in Tokyo in 2005, at the age of 91. He was buried in Tokyo Cathedral, one of his works. He left behind a legacy of architectural excellence and cultural significance, and influenced many generations of architects around the world.