Twentieth-Century Masters: Kenzo Tange

Kenzo Tange is counted as truly one of the greatest architects of the century. His highly individual work, completely in the modern idiom, has brought an exhilarating creative talent to the urban aspect of Japan. Increasingly also in other countries his inventive genius has been sought for large and important projects. Even with the enormous range of buildings which he has created, each retains a freshness of conception. Tange has avoided static formulae and his achievement goes beyond facile enthusiasm and bears witness to an attitude of continuous and dedicated research. Right from the start of his career, as a student and then as a newly fledged architect in the forties, he won a whole succession of prizes. This early success was also marked by the selection of his design for the new Peace Centre in the reconstruction programme for Hiroshima, which brought him his initial widespread fame. For a period for now more tan twenty years. he has continued to enhance his reputation with a wide range of awards and achievements. His giant stadium for the Olympic Games at Tokyo in 1964 made him known throughout the world and brought him, in 1965, a gold medal from RIBA (the Royal Institute of British Architects) and in 1966 a special award from the League of Architects in New York. In the same year he was given honorary membership of the American Arts Association and awarded the gold medal of the International Architectural Association for his activities as an architect and town-planner. Today Tange is engaged in an number of ambitious projects. He is building a Sports and Arts Centre at Flushing Meadow, New York, a university campus at Taiwan, an airport on the Persian Gulf and new administrative buildings in Bologna in Italy. In Japan he is working on the completion of a plan for Kyoto and helped to design the 1970 Osaka World Fair. The dynamic career of this outstanding Japanese architect is described in this book in a full account by Paolo Riani amplified by quotations by Tange himself and backed by biological details, a complete list of his buildings and an excellent bibliography. His work is shown in 49 black-and-white and 63 colour illustrations.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/nsudigital_flwbooks/1127/thumbnail.jp