Office: Kenzo Tange | ArchDaily

AD Classics: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building / Kenzō Tange

Bart Bryant-Mole — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 04:00:00 +0000

The career of Japanese architect Kenzō Tange features a curious anomaly: he received the same commission twice. In 1952, during the early stages of his career, Tange designed an administrative building in Yūrakuchō, Tokyo, for the city's metropolitan government. Over thirty years later, when the government relocated to Shinjuku, Tokyo, he again won the commission to design its administrative building. Completed in 1991, this would be one of his last, and most ambitious, projects. The second incarnation now dominates the city’s skyline, its highly distinctive design guaranteeing it landmark status. Nicknamed Tochō (an abbreviation of its Japanese name Tōkyō-to Chōsha), its architectural references to both tradition and modernity act as a visual metaphor for the eclectic city over which its inhabitants govern.

AD Classics: Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Center / Kenzo Tange

Gili Merin — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

“Architects today tend to depreciate themselves, to regard themselves as no more than just ordinary citizens without the power to reform the future.” - Kenzo Tange

AD Classics: Hiroshima Peace Center and Memorial Park / Kenzo Tange

Igor Fracalossi — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 01:00:00 +0000

On August 6th, 1945, a B-29 bomber dropped the first atomic bomb in history over Hiroshima, Japan, targeting the intersection of bridges over the Honkawa and Motoyasu rivers. The bomb devastated Hiroshima within a radius of 5 km, resulting in 140,000-150,000 deaths by December of that year.

AD Classics: St. Mary Cathedral / Kenzo Tange

Andrea Giannotti — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

There are some buildings that do not belong to any time or age. The Saint Mary Cathedral of Tokyo by Kenzo Tange is definitely one of these. Of course materials and technologies make it recognizable as a project of the 20th century, but we could easily say that this project has been built yesterday the same as 50 years ago. It’s not usual, in terms of the quality of architecture. And it is not the only quality of this project.

AD Classics: Yoyogi National Gymnasium / Kenzo Tange

Andrew Kroll — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Built for the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, the Yoyogi National Gymnasium has become an architectural icon for its distinctive design. Designed by one of Japan’s most famous modernist architects, Kenzo Tange, the gymnasium is a hybridization of western modernist aesthetics and traditional Japanese architecture.