Kenzo Tange, Hon. FAIA

Year Awarded: 1966
Born: September 04, 1913; Osaka, Japan
Died: 2005

Quote
Architecture must have something that appeals to the human heart, but even then, basic forms, spaces, and appearances must be logical. Creative work is expressed in our time as a union of technology and humanity. The role of tradition is that of a catalyst, which furthers a chemical reaction, but is no longer detectable in the end result. Tradition can, to be sure, participate in a creation, but it can no longer be creative itself.


Projects
• 1991: Tokyo City Hall, Tokyo, Japan
• 1990: Fuji Broadcasting Center, Tokyo
• 1967: Yamanashi Press & Broadcasting Center, Yamanashi, Japan
• 1964: Olympic Arenas, Tokyo, Japan
• 1963: St. Mary's Cathedral (Roman Catholic), Tokyo
• 1963: Kurashiki City Hall, Kurashiki, Japan
• 1961: Ichinomiya Rowhouses, Ichinomiya, Japan
• 1957: Sogestu Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
• 1956: Hiroshima Peace Center


Biography
Kenzo Tange is considered one of the 20th century’s most important architects. His work can be found on five continents.

Born in Osaka, Japan, Tange lived in Imabari on Shikoku Island until he was in junior high school. He entered the University of Tokyo in 1935 and graduated from the architecture department in 1938. After graduation, he worked for Kunio Maekawa for a few years; in 1942 he entered graduate school at University of Tokyo, where he studied city planning and subsequently took a position as an assistant professor of architecture. That same year, 1946, he organized the Tange Laboratory, where associates included Sachio Otani, Takashi Asada, Taneo Oki, Fumihiko Maki, Koji Kamiya, Arata Isozaki, and Kisho Kurokawa.

In 1949 Tange was selected to design Hiroshima’s Peace Park and Peace Center.

In 1959 Tange earned his doctorate in engineering, writing Spatial Structure in a Large City as his thesis. From this work came his Plan for Tokyo 1960, which addressed the issues of urban structure that support growth and change. Though not fully implemented, the plan received worldwide attention for his innovative solutions to the problems posed by urban growth.

In 1961 he established his firm Kenzo Tange & Urtec, which later became Kenzo Tange Associates. From 1963 to 1974, he taught urban engineering at the University of Tokyo, then retired as professor emeritus. He has been a guest professor at MIT and has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the University of California at Berkeley, and other prestigious schools.

Tange was awarded the 1987 Pritzker Architecture Prize. In the citation, his design for the 1964 Olympic gymnasium in Tokyo was described as “among the most beautiful buildings of the 20th century.” He has also received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal and the French Academy of Architecture Gold Medal.

Though his early style combines modernism with traditional Japanese design, he embraced the International style later in his career. He advocated constructing large metropolitan cities that address all the needs of its constituents, including service, residential, employment, and transportation aspects. He consistently designed his cities with a clearly articulated structure, but related it to the spiritual and personal expressions and practices of the people who would live and work in the space.