On 6 August this year it will be 70 years since the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Angela Ferguson visits the place today.
January 20th, 2015
Memorial Museum
The A-Bomb was exploded 600 m above the city, so that the full effect of its destruction was felt by Hiroshima’s people. Putting it bluntly, the city was flattened. The after effects of the A-bomb continued to be felt for years afterwards by those who managed to survive.
The inhabitants of Hiroshima are a determined people and they soon set about rapidly rebuilding their city. A few short years after it had been razed to the ground Hiroshima was proclaimed a City of Peace by the Japanese Parliament in 1949. It is now a thriving metropolis dedicated to peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
A-Bomb Dome
The main monuments and memorials that are part of Hiroshima Peace Park were designed by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. Tange practiced throughout the 20th century (he died in 2005) and was one of Japan’s, if not the world’s most highly regarded architects, winning the Pritzker Prize in 1987.
His work has a distinct modernist style that also incorporates many Japanese architectural aesthetic principles. His design for the site was the result of winning a design competition, and this is one of the many opportunities Tange had to explore the influence of his favourite architect, Le Corbusier.
Memorial Museum
Arriving in Hiroshima is surreal; it is quite obviously much newer than other big cities in Japan and it’s difficult to imagine how a city could grow out of rubble in such a relatively short time. It has a similar feel to Canberra, in that it is a very ‘planned’ city now. The Peace park site consists of the Peace Memorial Museum, the Peace Memorial Park, the Memorial Cenotaph, the Children’s Peace Monument, the eternal flame (which will only be extinguished once nuclear weapons no longer exist) and the A-Bomb Dome.
Children’s Peace Monument
The A-Bomb dome was previously the city’s main commercial and exhibition hall and is one of only a handful of heritage buildings that remain; the A-Bomb dome survived because it was almost directly under the explosion, as if in the eye of a storm.
The Memorial Cenotaph
Hiroshima is an important design destination city for many reasons; it is evidence of both shocking destruction and incredible beauty. The architecture of the Peace Site is provocative, serene and beautiful in its simplicity; it is in direct contrast to the desolate landscape from which it evolved.
To follow Angela and Stephen’s journey through Japan go to instagram @futurespacedesign @indesignlive and look out for the hashtags #futurespacetravels #indesigntravels
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Schneider Electric’s new range are making bulky outlets a thing of the past with the new UNICA X collection.
How can design empower the individual in a workplace transforming from a place to an activity? Here, Design Director Joel Sampson reveals how prioritising human needs – including agency, privacy, pause and connection – and leveraging responsive spatial solutions like the Herman Miller Bay Work Pod is key to crafting engaging and radically inclusive hybrid environments.
Habitus visits an artist’s house in Queensland’s Castaway’s Beach, whose gun barrel form was sketched on a restaurant napkin.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
This year’s Open House Melbourne Weekend program has been unveiled, with almost 200 buildings, places and experiences set to open to the public in July.
In a market saturated with sameness, Studio P3 set out to raise the bar, creating four refined speculative suites for Mirvac in Sydney, with Milliken flooring playing an essential role in realising a space with broad appeal – all underpinned by a commitment to sustainability.