Architect Seminar – Kenzo Tange
Presented by Sreekanth P. S.
Nationality
Japanese
Born
4 September 1913 Osaka, Japan
Died
22 March 2005 Tokyo, Japan
Alma mater
The University of Tokyo
Practice
1946 Tange Laboratory
1961 The Urbanists and Architects Team
Kenzo Tange Associates
Awards
Plitzker Prize, RIBA Gold Medal, AIA Gold
Medal, Order of Culture, Order of Sacred
Treasures
An influential protagonist of the Structuralist
movement.
• He believed in combining traditional Japanese styles
with modernism.
• Influenced from an early age by the Swiss modernist,
Le Corbusier
• Winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture
•
Yoyogi National Gymnasium(1964)
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Formed in the late 1950s by a small group
of young Japanese architects and designers
Human society modelled in biological terms
Based on Buddhist notions of
impermanence and change.
Relied heavily on advanced technology, and
they often consist of adaptable plug-in
megastructures
Mega city planning for
Tokyo (Kenzo Tange
1960)
 The most famous built
example of Metabolism is
Kurokawa's Nakagin
Capsule Tower (1972).

Yoyogi National Gymnasium
St. Mary's Cathedral
Hiroshima Peace
Monument
Fuji TV headquarters
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building(1991)
Computer Chip
 Gothic Cathedral
 Traditional Japanese
houses.

The exterior surfaces covered with geometric
pattern executed in granite
 Earthquake resistant structure
 Observation desk at the top
 At the top of each tower are satellite dishes
pointing in all directions.

The smaller building housing government offices
is located to the south of the main building.
 The two structures are joined by the multi-story
portico .
 The style of the south building is less vertical and
takes on the form of a cluster of buildings.

Acts as an unifying element
 The portico wraps gently around the plaza,
joining it to the main building as well as the
assembly hall.
 Sculptures

The fan-shaped plaza, modeled on the famous Campo
in Siena,
 Acts as a separation
 Slopes gently up as one moves away from the main
structure.
 An oasis of rare harmony and tranquillity

Campo in Siena
The assembly hall is a circular metal-clad
structure which looms over the plaza from above
the portico.
 A round window placed at its center

First Floor Plan of super block
Second Floor Plan of super block
Section of Super Block
Fusion of eastern and western elements
 One based on structural principle other on futuristic
principle
 Shift to Monumental Structures from his minimalist
ideologies

Kenzo Tange's attempt to embrace the postmodernist
movement of the eighties.
 Deviation from his general idea of Traditional Japanese
Architecture
 The perfect architectural incarnation of modern Japan
