Hiroshima e la rinascita del Giappone. Kenzō Tange tra Michelangelo, Le Corbusier e Noguchi = Hiroshima and the Rebirth of Japan. Kenzō Tange between Michelangelo, Le Corbusier, and Noguchi

This article analyzes the historical and cultural context that led to the construction of the most important project of the post world war II period: the Hiroshima Peace Center designed by Kenzō Tange. Beginning with Tange’s memories of the devastation of his country, the text provides a starting point for understanding the significance of the urban and symbolic reconstruction of the city. In this scenario of total devastation, Hiroshima becomes the emblematic example of how memory it is enclosed in an architectural project. Together with collaborators such as Takashi Asada and Sachio Otani, Tange began an intense urban planning project that would lead to the formation of the Tange Lab and the development of a comprehensive proposal for the city’s rebirth. The article also explores the cultural and theoretical significance of Tange’s references, high- lighting how the Hiroshima project represents a meeting point between Japanese tradition and western modernism. In fact, the architect’s training was profoundly influenced by the study of Western architecture, and in particular by the works of Michelangelo Buonarroti and Le Corbusier. Special attention is also paid to the collaboration with the sculptor Isamu Noguchi, author of a proposal for a peace cenotaph that unfortunately was never realized for political reasons, despite its strong symbolic value. The essay thus demonstrates how the Hiroshima project is not merely an urban planning project, but a cultural manifesto of the reconstruction capable of expressing a new architectural identity for postwar Japan and a new way to design the city.