THE GREAT KENZO TANGE

Kenzo Tange was the first who took this idea which is the idea to blend the Japanese traditional style with Modern International stlye and introduce it to the world. Speaking of his ideas, philosophy, and thoughts, there are many things to be discuss about but first we need to know, who is this guy we're talking about. Here is the short biography of his :

Name : Kenzo Tange

Born   : Imabari, September 4th 1913

Kenzo Tange (1913-2005), winner of the 1987 Pritzker Architecture Prize, is one of Japan’s most honored architects. Teacher, writer, architect, and urban planner. he is revered not only for his own work but also for his influence for the younger architects. He met with the modernism architecture in 1930. And then in 1935 He entered Tokyo University and took architectural course influenced by Le Corbusier. Graduated in 1938. And at the same time he started working in Kunio Maekawa’s office. In 1942, he won the design for Greater East Asian Co-prosperity sphere memorial hall but unfortunately the design were not build. In 1946, He accepted a professorship at Tokyo University and became an assistant professor at Tokyo University, and organized the Tange Laboratory. His students included Fumihiko Maki, Koji Kamiya, Arata Isozaki, Kisho Kurokawa, and Taneo Oki. In 1949, he won the open competition of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. This was the first of his work. Then in 1960, he proposed a plan for tokyo, to manage the uncontrolled expansion of the city. Another urban design that he had made was one for the Fiera District of Bologna, Italy in 1967. Kenzo Tange completed his doctorate in 1959, and in 1963, he became Professor in Department of Urban Engineering, Tokyo University. Then he died on March 22nd 2005, he was buried in St. Mary Cathedral, one of his creation. 

Some of his awards : 
• Annual Prize of Architectural Institute of Japan 1954, 1955, 1958 
• Pan Pacific Citation from A. I. A. Hawaian Chapter, U. S. A. 1958Prix International d’Art et d’Architecture de I’Architecture d’Aujoud’hui, France 1959 
• Prizes from Building Society, Japan, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1979, 1984 
• Diploma of Merit from International Olimpic Committee,1964 
• Royal Gold Medal from Royal Institute of British Architects, England 1965 
• Asahi Prize from Azahi Newspaper, Japan 1965 
• Special Prize of Architectural Institute of Japan 1965, 1970. 
• President’s Medal from the Architectural League of New York, U. S. A. 1965 
• The Gold Medal 1966 from American Institute of Architects, U. S. A. 1966 
• Medaille d’Or from Societe d’Encouragement au Progres, France 1967 
• Order of the Yugoslav Star on Necklace, Yugoslavia 1968 
• The Medal of Honour from Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark 1968 
• Order of San Gregorio Magno from the Apostolic Nunziature, Vatican City 1970 
• Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Medal in Architecture, U. S. A. 1970
• Medaglia d’Oro del Presidente della Replubica Italiana, Italy 1970 
• Prime Minister’s Award from Nominated Competitions for “Japan in 21 Century”, Japan 1971 
• Grande Medaille d’Or d’Architecture de I’Academie d’Architecture, France 1973 
• SARP Medal from Stowarzyszenie Architektow Polskich, Poland 1973 
• Order Pour Le Merite fur Wissenschaften und Kunste, West Germany 1976 
• Commandeur dans I’Ordre National du Merite, France 1977 
• Mexian Order of the Aguila Azteca Grade, “Encomienda”, Mexico 1978 
• Commendatore nell’Ordine “Al Merito della Republica Italiana”, Italy 1979 
• Person of Merit in Japanese Cultural Achievment, Japan 1979 
• Order of Culture, Japan 1980 
• Commandeur dans I’Ordre des Arts et Lettres, France 1984 
• Grande Ufficiale nell’Ordine Al Merito della Republica Italiana, Italy 1984
• Grand Prize, Architectural Institute of Japan 1986 
• The Pritzker Architecture Prize 1987


CONCEPT

Now, talking of his concept, we know that he blends the Japanese Traditional Style with the Modern International Style. So..,

What is MODERN ARCHITECTURE...?
Modern Architecture is a style of architecture that prioritize the simplicity of form and abolishes the ornament which is considered as a useless thing for modern architecture’s belief which is Form Follow Function. Space is the main object to be treated.
The characteristics of this architecture style are following :
 - Refuse ornament.
 - Simple Form
 - Form Follow Function
 - Uses iron, glass, and concrete as materials
 - no decoration and monotonic repetition.

Japanese Traditional Architecture’s Characteristics
Japanese Traditional architecture is a traditional style uses in Japan as a culture that formed through history of Japan building. The main characteristics of this architecture style are following :
 - The base principle is simplicity.
 - The closeness with the nature
 - Uses woods
 - Line composition, same direction and balance of parallel horizontal planes.

Japanese Modern architecture goes mainstream
Modern Japanese architecture gained instant fame with Tange’s first building “Peace Memorial Museum” being published in magazines worldwide. Although the design philosophy is purely Japanese, Tange’s ideas aligned with modern architecture from the west in many ways – simplicity, lightness, openness, repetition and ingenuous construction with naked materials. This is around the same time as Le Corbusier was famous for doing similar buildings.

But not everything matched with western school of thought. Some ways that the Japanese modern architecture was (and still is) unique is sensitivity, immense attention to detail construction and idea of masculinity and femininity in the buildings. Good connections can be exposed (truthfulness) and buildings only show masculinity where required (structure and exterior) and femininity to balance the counterpart (paper sliding doors, interiors etc). Tange was the first architect from Japan to bring these ideas to the surface, making it mainstream in the architectural world. Not by words but by his architecture.

3 Elements and 6 golden rules(His Beliefs)
Tange says  there are 3 elements that can be used to express a new style of architecture which is match better consistently. Those are Human, emotion, and sensual elements which are smart tech and space structure.

Where as there are 6 golden rules an architect must follow according to tange:

1. Simplicity in plan and form. Unnecessary undulations and geometrical shapes are not required.

2. Typification. One must interpret technical and engineering solutions through the eyes of an artist before implementation.

3. Strength. Architecture should insist, it should be bold rather than weak.

4. Ornament. This is useful when it holds 1) a symbolic meaning and 2) can be understood by most people.

5. Honesty to materials. Why hide it behind gypsum wall boards and ceilings if the original craftsmanship is beautiful?

6. Elimination of Furyu*. Eliminate the meaningless prettiness. Let’s not spend 56 hours carving that wooden door.

*Furyu is a Japanese word means graceful

WORKS

We’re talking about his concepts in designing buildings, well it’s time to look toward his works. There are many works he had made but we will just study 3 of his works. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Center, St. Mary Cathedral, and Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Center

St. Mary’s Cathedral

Yoyogi National Gymnasium

CONCLUSION

Simplicity in plan and form, looks very clear that Kenzo Tange uses simple form in this work.
Represent thesimplicity as a characteristic of Modern style and and also Japanese style.

Strength means dare to express what you think, so your work could have a strong impact. 

Ornament as a symbolic meaning. In this case he was meant to say something like indicator. It’s align the 

Japanese traditional that have symbolic ornament.

Honesty to material. Naked material as the style of the modern architecture style.

Elimination of Furyu(graceful). We can see that all of his works has no carving or something like that.
This was to show the simplicity and also to fulfill the requirement of modern architecture which is form follow function.

Well, that's all what I can write for now, hope can be helpful for you. ^^v