Long ago, when I was “reading architecture” at Cambridge University (it turned out that you had to do more to architecture than merely read it if you wanted to become an architect), I remember noting the name of Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. The majority of the architectural gods we students were then offered as objects of worship turned out to be deluded fools, but Tange was, I believe, the genuine article.
And now he has died, at the age of 91. I had no idea that he had lived this long.
I think he deserved to, and that if for some reason he did not look back on his work with a sense of pride and accomplishment, he should have and was entitled to.
I know that many readers here loathe the architectural modernism that is being done now, just as they loathe the architectural modernism that was done in the sixties and seventies. But for me, there has been a sea change. Style is back. Expressiveness is back. The Great Lump style is being abandoned, and often dynamited.
If they look at these pictures, I think that at least some readers here may agree that this man was way ahead of his time. Now, modernistic buildings which look interesting rather than deadly dull, which celebrate the expressive possibilities of modern building technology instead of merely using it to erect giant blocks of boredom, are all the rage.
Tange did perpetrate quite a few concrete lumps, but on the whole, he did better than that.
How many other architects were making buildings as interesting and dramatic looking as this, in the nineteen sixties? Not many.
I’m glad you linked to that . . . that’s my favourite Tange building . . . it looks magnificent close up, a million times more so than the average (and it is very average) modernist rubbish.
But did his roofs leak ?
Many thanks for your interesting and informative posts on architecture and engineering.
Luisalegria, you are so behind the times. Architecture has transcended the primitive functionality that you allude to, the modern building has no need for old fuddy duddy concepts as watertightness, longevity or practicality.
1970’s modernism: shall we all just agree to call it Stalinist architecture?
Fantastic press building. Lets dance about architecture !
Brian, if you like innovative architecture, what do you think of this building?
I’ve just made my first ever website looking at some of the architecture in Tokyo. Please have a look if you have the time.
http://www.tokyo-architect.com
I will be adding to it over the next few days.