When Paul Noritaka Tange won the rights to design the Aquatics Centre for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, one of the first things he did was to visit the grave of his father: the revolutionary Pritzker Prize-winning architect, Kenzo Tange.
"I wanted to tell him I'd grown enough to do this, too. That the office he founded was still fighting on," Paul, 63, said of his father, who died in 2005 at 91. "I believe we're the only father and son in the world to design the same Olympics venue — and a really strong feeling of respect for my father is part of why I wanted to do this."
When the elder Tange built the Yoyogi National Gymnasium as a swimming arena for the 1964 Games, its bold floating roof and spires — evoking Japanese temples and suspension bridges — became a symbol of Japan's triumphant return to the world stage after wartime defeat, helping to make Asia's first Olympics a riotous celebration of resurrection and renewal.