Kenzō Tange (1913

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Biography

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is a museum in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan, dedicated to documenting the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II.

Timeline

The story of Kenzō Tange, told in moments.

1955 Event

Completed the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. A concrete building raised on pilotis over a park where the bomb fell. It framed the A-bomb Dome in the distance. Architecture as memorial.

What does it mean to build a memorial where the bomb fell? Did framing the A-bomb Dome feel like architecture or grief? Was the Peace Memorial Museum your most important building?

1964 Event

Designed the Yoyogi National Gymnasium for the Tokyo Olympics. Swooping suspended roofs held by steel cables. It merged traditional Japanese forms with modernist engineering. Widely considered his masterpiece.

How do you merge traditional Japanese forms with modernist engineering? Did the Tokyo Olympics feel like Japan's reintroduction to the world? Is Yoyogi your masterpiece?

1987 Life

Won the Pritzker Prize. His Tokyo master plan of 1960, which proposed extending the city into the bay on a linear axis, was never built but influenced urban planning worldwide.

Was the Pritzker Prize recognition for one building or a career? Did the unbuilt Tokyo master plan frustrate or free you? What does it mean to influence urban planning without building?

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