Tange Kenzo born in 4th of September in 1913 in Osaka, and died in 22nd of March in 2005 in Tokyo. He was the foremost Japanese architects in the decades following World War II.
After graduating from Tokyo Imperial University in 1938, Tange worked in the office of Maekawa Kunio, an architect who had studied with Le Corbusier. In 1942 Tange returned to the university to study city planning, and in 1949 he was named professor there; he became professor emeritus in 1974. His first completed structure was a pavilion at the Kobe Industry and Trade Fair of 1950, and his first major commission involved the reconstruction of Hiroshima.
In addition Tange’s work during the 1960s took more dramatic forms with the use of reinforced concrete and innovative engineering. In 1964 he designed the National Gymnasiums which has two structures featured sweeping curved roofs and balanced design. Also during the same period, he designed St. Mary’s Cathedral in Tokyo with cruciform design with stark and also soaring roofs are made of stainless steel, the meaning of cruciform is having the shape of a cross.
So I would like to talk about his most famous two building he made that I spoke above, National Gymnasiums and St. Mary’s Cathedral. I chose these buildings for my research because I think they will be of great help in designing my theatre, my major project for the Art Portfolio.
As he said, “Architecture is the creation of a special form of understanding of reality. It works and transforms reality through the construction of an important object of use. The object of this art form, on the other hand, has the dual quality of serve as a mirror and enhance it. Also he is using the substantial and spiritual structures to his design, so that’s why I chose this famous architect for my project research he is using different spiritual structures and I find these design types might help me to design my theatre for my major project.
First I want to talk about his famous National Gymnasiums building that located in Tokyo, Tange designed this gymnasium for 1964 Olympics Games in Tokyo.
National Gymnasium
This gymnasium is a hybridization of western modernist aesthetics and traditional Japanese architecture. Tange’s admit structural design that creates dramatic sweeping curves and also this appears to effortlessly drape from two large central supporting cables. I believe that the building’s dynamically suspended roof and rough materials are making the most iconic building profiles in the world, so I can use these suspended roof for final project which would definitely for perfect for theatre design.
Tange influenced by Le Corbusier’s Philips Pavilion and Eeron Saarinen’s hockey stadium at Yale University, Tange fascinated with the structure and its tensile and geometric potential.
Lastly, this huge gymnasium has a dynamic form and expressionism style which made this building the most important work of Tange, as well as architectural icon. So I have chose this specific building for my project because the idea and the design is nearly same with my project theme so this research will help me to improve my theatre design.
For the second building I chose the Saint Mary’s Cathedral of Tokyo, so I will give some information about this building that would help to develop my idea for my project ;
The Tokyo Cathedral has been completed in 1964 which is the year with the National Gymnasium. Tange renovate the church with concrete structure, simple in concept and complex in shape which is looks like lightness of a bird and its wing. So actually he used expressionist architecture style for his design which would help me to design my own theatre for my project.
As he said architects should used for all people, combining the technology and humanity and inspiration for getting construction before designing a building. The structure that he used, on a concrete base shaped like a Latin cross walls rise the desing of the plant. Also the roof, windows with skylights and the is the only place where the temple receives natural light so he drew the windows for important places and he designed them to look better from the outside.
Furthermore, he used for exterior surface of the cathedral sheets of galvanized aluminium and stainless stell frames and supported by iron bolts.
Lastly, I would like to say, I believe that by doing research about this famous Japanese architect, I have got lots of new ideas for my project and I think the common materials that every expressionist architects are using is stainless stell and aluminium which I will definitely used these materials for my theatre project. So this research will help me to improve my design ideas.
References:
Tange Kenzō (2023) Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tange-Kenzo (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
Giannotti, A. (2011) Ad classics: St. mary cathedral / Kenzo Tange, ArchDaily. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/114435/ad-classics-st-mary-cathedral-kenzo-tange (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
Kroll, A. (2011) Ad classics: Yoyogi national gymnasium / Kenzo Tange, ArchDaily. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/109138/ad-classics-yoyogi-national-gymnasium-kenzo-tange (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
Team, A. (2023) The st. mary’s cathedral in Tokyo by Kenzo Tange, ArchEyes. Available at: https://archeyes.com/st-marys-cathedral-in-tokyo-kenzo-tange/ (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
Like your earlier post, much better directed in terms of how you are using this research. To follow up, post your development drawings that show how you have used this (and other) research and the impact it has had on your design idea.
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