Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Tachu Naito

What is the tallest structure in Japan?

Hmmm...

Tokyo Tower?

YES!!


"Tokyo Tower and around Skyscrapers", shot by Volfgang. This work is licensed under a GNU Free Documentation License

Most of elementary school students in Yamanashi used to go to Tokyo Tower for the school trip in 80's. Even now, it is one of the busiest sightseeing spots in Tokyo.

But the person who designed it is less well known.
It may be the only game in town because it was built more than 50 years ago.
Even I had not known the person till lately.

OK. I'll give an answer to the question.
It is Tachū Naitō 内藤多仲 (1886-1970).

He was born at home in Sakaki village 榊村, Nakakoma-gun 中巨摩郡[*gun is a district that is roughly equivalent to the county of the United States], now known as "Minami-Alps city". And then he become an architect, engineer, and professor,and set out not only Tokyo tower but also Nagoya TV Tower, the Tsūtenkaku (Osaka), the Sapporo TV Tower...etc in late 50's. And he has been called "a father of earthquake-proof design" because, though his-designed-building's aseismic capacity was accidentally tested by Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, his building came through the earthquake nearly-unharmed with his own theory : structure system based on shear wall.

1 comment:

  1. I have never been to Tokyo and did not know about the Tokyo Tower. It looks like a Japanese version of the Eiffel Tower. Its designer would be better known if it was named the Naito Tower

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