Inspiring architects

Kenzo Tange

  "The role of tradition is that of a catalyst, which furthers a chemical reaction but is no longer detectable in the end result. Tradition can, to be sure, participate in a piece of creation, but it can no longer be creative itself."
Kenzo Tange was an architect from Japan, who has won several prestigious awards during the lifespan of his career, among which the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 1987. He was renowned for blending Japanese traditionalism and world modernism in his works. 

 

 

OLYMPIC ARENA  Tokyo, Japan 

 

"Together with a number of other important projects which Kenzo Tange carried out after 1959, the Olympic stadia in Tokyo can be regarded as the culmination of his career, designed in 1960 and built in 1964, on a par with the highest achievements of the Japanese tradition... The plan [of the larger stadium] is in the form of two semi-circles, slightly displaced in relation to one another, with their unconnecting ends elongated into points. The entrances are located in the concave sides. The roof is supported on two reinforced concrete pillars, and is made up of a system of steel cables onto which enameled steel plates are then soldered. The curving form of the roof serves to make it more resistant to wind, which can reach hurricane force in this region.