CIAM
Functionalist focus on individual housing, and shift to communal space
Congregation and reflection of the Japanese people
Formation of the axis through the park
Figure 2 - (Top) The conception of the buildings based upon social human scale and in reflection of the axis.
With the formation of CIAM in 1928, the complete rethinking of architecture and urbanism brought about new ideals focused on rationalization and standardization from a socialist perspective. It was a new approach rooted in Garden City movements and focused around improved living conditions, an increased economic efficiency through transportation and the protection of natural environment as a place for mass recreation.5 Kenzo Tange, with his winning submission for the Hiroshima Peace Park recognized the values of the functional city and the objectives laid out by CIAM, seeing the value of the integration of nature as well as the recognition of zones. With Hiroshima Peace Park the physical context has changed over time such that before the bombing there is something very different than what is there now. Historically, the site and surrounding city was organized in a more organic way with primarily housing and temples. Post-war saw the shift though with zoning and the emergence of the block unit began to appear, and is now the means to organize the city in a higher density (figure 1).6 When it comes to Hiroshima Peace Park though, the 100-mile boulevard runs alongside the southern border and across the river, and with the rivers surrounding the park itself, the park does not have a block number and is completely unto its own. With the postwar period the Athens Charter formulated the values of the functionalist movement that established an organizational structure for the city based on the four functions of dwelling, working, recreation and circulation.7 With respect to zoning, context and the park,
Hiroshima Peace Park can almost be seen as a sanctuary then from the city both in its use as well as its formal regulations. Breaking from the imposition of the typical grid, the park brings the more organic network back into the city. With the reconstruction necessary from post-war disaster the emergence of the Building Standard Law, after its establishment in 1949 from the first referendum, this document emerged as a means to guide construction that influenced CIAM 4 typologies surrounding the site.8 entitled the Functional City was focused on the post-war period and how the response was one of rational organization, such that simple and clear property divisions should be established, where axial city plans are disregarded as they cannot be extended to the development of the entirety.9 Hiroshima Peace Park then only considers the organizational aspect of the site, not even from a rational perspective, but of a more organic order where axis and connections are not in a rigid manner (figure 3). The organic nature then of the park reveals Kenzo Tange’s questioning of functionalist perspectives and begins the transition of Japanese urbanism. This transitional movement also addressed city-planning methods of Japan, where urban sprawl and growth were seen as creating improved conditions; the metabolist movement saw the advantages instead of proper density along with the importance of urban recreation space.10 Planning too can be looked at from the influence of the Athens Charter where each four function was seen to have its place as autonomy based on particular circumstances. Hiroshima Peace Park politically was a re-envisioning and 225