6 Quotes & Sayings By Kenzo Tange

Kenzo Tange was born in Tokyo on December 13, 1910. He graduated from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and was a student of Professor Kishida Shigeru. He joined the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Association as a designer in 1930. In 1932 he became a member of the Japan Art Academy and became a member of the Society for Contemporary Crafts in 1936 Read more

In 1938 he began to work as an industrial designer for Mitsui. In 1941 he became an instructor at the Fine Arts College of Tokyo University. In 1943 he left Japan to take part in the French resistance movement during World War II.

In 1945 he returned to Japan and spent a year designing sets for a theater group, but returned to Europe in 1946 to establish his architectural office in Paris. In 1948 he moved his company to Milan where, together with Renzo Piano, he designed the Pirelli building.

1
There is a powerful need for symbolism, and that means the architecture must have something that appeals to the human heart. There is a powerful need for symbolism, and that means the architecture must have something that appeals to the human heart. Kenzo Tange
2
I feel however, that we architects have a special duty and mission... (to contribute) to the socio-cultural development of architecture and urban planning. Kenzo Tange
3
Technological considerations are of great importance to architecture and cities in the informational society. Kenzo Tange
4
Architects today tend to depreciate themselves, to regard themselves as no more than just ordinary citizens without the power to reform the future. Kenzo Tange
5
Designs of purely arbitrary nature cannot be expected to last long. Kenzo Tange