- 丹下健三
- 丹下 健三 は、日本の建築家、都市計画家。一級建築士（登録番号第15182号）。位階勲等は従三位勲一等瑞宝章、文化勲章受章。フランス政府よりレジオンドヌール勲章受章。カトリック信徒。
Kenzo Tange
Kagawa Prefectural Office Building, 1958, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture
Yoyogi National Gymnasium, 1964, Shibuya Ward, Tokyo
Japan World Exposition (Expo '70) Main Facilities Planning and Festival Plaza, 1970, Suita City, Osaka Prefecture
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, 1991, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo
United Nations University, 1992, Shibuya Ward, Tokyo
Fuji Television Building, 1996, Minato Ward, Tokyo
New Kagawa Prefectural Office Building, 2000, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture
Tokyo Dome Hotel, 2000, Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo
Tokyo Prince Hotel Park Tower, 2005 (currently The Prince Park Tower Tokyo), Minato Ward, Tokyo
In 1939 (Showa 14), Tange published an essay titled "In Praise of Michelangelo - As a Prelude to a Discussion of Le Corbusier" [Note 2] in the magazine "Modern Architecture." Then, in 1941 (Showa 16), heKunio Maekawawas in charge of designing the Kishi Memorial Gymnasium [Note 3] at the architectural design office. However, his name became widely known through the Greater East Asia Construction Memorial Construction Plan competition in 1942 (Showa 17) and the subsequent Japan Cultural Center in Bangkok plan competition in 1943 (Showa 18), for which he won first prize.
Around the same time, he attracted attention in the World Peace Memorial Cathedral architectural design competition, the largest competition in Japan at the time, which heralded the beginning of the post-World War II Japanese architectural world. However, the client, the Catholic Church, disliked the parabolic shell structure, similar to that ofOscar Niemeyer's San Francisco Chapel in Pampulha, Brazil, because of its non-religious traditional form and poor acoustics. As a result, Tange's design was not adopted (he won second prize, with no first prize awarded). The project was later undertaken by Togo Murano, an Expressionist architect and one of the competition judges who harshly criticized Tange's Le Corbusier-influenced design, leading to a major scandal in the Japanese architectural world [Note 7].
Furthermore, Tange strongly urgedIsamu Noguchito participate in this project. However, due to strong opposition from Hisutane Kishida, who was the chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Special Committee of the Ministry of Construction at the time and also Tange's mentor, stating that "it is a creation of the Americans who dropped the atomic bomb, so how can it serve as a memorial to those who died in the bombing," Noguchi's design for the cenotaph was rejected, and Tange himself ended up taking charge [19].
In 1970 (Showa 45), at the Osaka Expo, he served as the overall producer along with Professor Ryozo Nishiyama of Kyoto University, and also designed the Festival Plaza, the central facility.The collaboration with Taro Okamoto, featuring the "Great Roof" lifted using a pioneering jack-up construction method and pierced by the Tower of the Sun, has become a legendary story that continues to this day.
His architectural style was originally of the Modernist school, andinitially he criticized Postmodern architecture as mere design, but in his later years, he incorporated Postmodern tendencies into works such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and the Nikko Toshogu Shrine guest hall and new office.His last masterpiece, the new Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, cites the twin towers of the Gothic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, while intricately creating concavities and convexities on the exterior walls to deepen the shadows. By embedding granite slabs of two different shades in the exterior PC plates, it creates a faux window-like effect, dividing the design even more finely than the actual window frames to create a sense of heaviness [Note 15]. According to Tange himself, the design evokes lattice doors, creating a Japanese feeling while simultaneously symbolizing the information age with the grid pattern of IC (integrated circuits), showing its Postmodern aspect [25].
While Japanese modern architecture had reached a level comparable to that of advanced Western countries even before World War II, it was Tange's Yoyogi National Gymnasium for the Tokyo Olympics that clearly elevated it to the top level in the world [26]. After that, it can be said that he opened up a path for the Japanese architectural world to transcend the framework of non-Western countries and establish a prominent position in the world architectural community in terms of both quality and quantity. As a leading figure in the post-World War II Japanese architectural world and an architect who continually shouldered national projects of the Showa era, his activities inevitably shifted to developing countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia after the Osaka Expo, when high economic growth ended and development subsided. The only exception was Italy.
For the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (New Metropolitan Government Building, completed in 1991), a designated competition was held, and as widely expected, Tange's design, which had a strong connection with the then-governor Shun'ichi Suzuki, won, leading to criticism that it was a "fixed match" [29] [30]. The connection with Suzuki dates back to when Suzuki was transferred from the Local Autonomy Agency (later the Ministry of Home Affairs; currently the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as vice-governor in preparation for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and later became the secretary-general of the Osaka Expo. When Suzuki first ran for governor, Tange served as chairman of his support group, "The Association to Create a Tokyo We Can Call Our Own Town." From within the architectural community, there was harsh criticism such as, "Did he abandon Modernism, which was supposed to be his style and beliefs, and pander to the masses in order to win the competition?", and "It's merely adding the tallest building to the existing group of skyscrapers in Shinjuku, without any new ideas." [31] [32] [33].
The Unknown Kenzo Tange -- Focusing on Overseas Projects and Urban Planning
Kenzo Tange 1938-1970 From the Pre-War Period to the Olympics and the World Expo
Kenzo Tange 1938-1970
From the Pre-War Period to the Olympics and the World Expo
TANGE KENZO 1938-1970
From Pre-war period to Olympic Games and World Expo
The National Museum of Modern Art, Architecture, and Design will be holding an exhibition titled "Kenzo Tange 1938-1970: From the Pre-War Period to the Olympics and the World Expo."
In 2021, the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in Tokyo. Looking back, the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1970 Japan World Exposition (Osaka Expo) were held, and the architect Kenzo Tange played a leading role in both. Utilizing the results of a three-year (2014-2016) survey of architectural materials related to architect Kenzo Tange, the National Museum of Modern Art, Architecture, and Design has planned an exhibition tracing Tange's footsteps from his graduation project to the Tokyo Olympics and the Osaka Expo. This exhibition will retrospectively examine the first half of Kenzo Tange's life, using architectural materials such as national projects including the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum and the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, as well as previously unseen materials such as the expansion plan for his own house and structural materials.
National Archives of Modern Architecture
国立近現代建築資料館
4 Chome-6-15 Yushima, Bunkyo City, Tokyo 113-0034, Japan
