Church of Concrete and Steel

Much of Japan’s modern architecture is functional and sterile but last week while riding around my local neighbourhood of Sekiguchi in Bunkyō (文京区), Tokyo I came across a piece of contemporary architecture that can only be described as fantastical. It compelled me to stop and take a closer look…

Hyperbolic Parabolas

Shimmering in the afternoon sunlight against a solid blue sky the shape of the building is hard to describe. Technically speaking it consists of eight hyperbolic parables (curved walls) that rise almost vertically from a diamond-shaped concrete base to form a Latin cross at peak of the roof.

St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral (東京カテドラル聖マリア大聖堂) is about as far from ordinary as you can imagine in the context of the usual Gothic piles we’re familiar with.

Cross of Light

While the extreme angles and aluminium skin make it appear to have just landed in this sleepy corner of Tokyo it was actually built in 1964 by Kenzō Tange (丹下 健三), one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, who combined traditional Japanese styles with modernism and the metabolist movement (メタボリズム).

Light is able to enter the cathedral at the intersection of the four main facades through windows which run the full 40m height of the building and continue across the roof forming an illuminated cross (reminiscent of Tadao Ando’s Church of Light in Osaka).

Cathedral Entrance

A simple wooden door marks the main entrance.

Cathedral Skin

Take a look at Google Maps to see what the building looks like from above.

St. Mary's Cast Concrete Interior

In stark contrast to its gleaming shell, the interior is something altogether different. Unpolished cast concrete walls rise to their zenith with a lightness unbecoming of their enormous weight.

St. Mary's Altar

In accordance with the Japanese concept of Wabi-sabi (侘寂) the aesthetic could be described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete” in its conspicuous roughness, simplicity, and austerity.

St. Mary's Walls
Concreate Organ

The vast converging walls create an almost monastic feel to the space with the ever-changing light casting amazing shadows through the narrow windows, softening what might otherwise feel like an oppressive tomb.

Cathedral Altar
St. Mary's Window

It’s not hard to feel spiritual in a place as unique as this.

Cathedral Silhouette

Outside a bell tower stands detached from the main building. Four vertical sides stretch into the sky, converging at a sharp point 60m high. Its hyperbolic sides mirror the main building and house four bells from Germany.

Angular Bell Tower

Fittingly when Kenzō Tange died in 2005 his funeral was held here, in what must surely be counted as one of his masterpieces and a timeless iconic example of modern Japanese design.

David avatar

8 responses

  1. Great photos and it’s really an amazing piece of architecture.

    Nevertheless, I have a feeling that it was at least a little inspired by this famous church in Taichung, the Luce Memorial Chapel from 1963:

    http://mykafkaesquelife.blogspot.com/2011/06/luce-memorial-chapel-taichung.html

    Especially the inside looks very similar. What do you think?

    1. Nice spot, there do seem to be some similarities – I would suspect that both architects were inspired by the modernist and metabolist movements of the day which became popular after WWII (as far as I understand). Given they must have been under construction at the same time I doubt there was any direct link.

  2. Great post! Love how you noticed the building without any prior conception of it being famous, did you know he built a similar one outside Japan too.

    1. Thanks Nancy, I didn’t know that! Assume you mean this one in San Francisco?:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Saint_Mary_of_the_Assumption

      Amazing to see ideas cross-pollinating globally.

  3. Margaret avatar
    Margaret

    Fascinating – what an amazing place to ‘stumble’ across!

  4. Really like interior of the church.

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