This exposed concrete box articulated with horizontal, sun-shielding windows, sits in modern contrast to the traditionally bound city it serves. Progress and expansion were accounted for when the facilities were erected in 1960, planning for a future municipality of 150,000 inhabitants. Facilities include a public assembly hall, offices, meeting rooms, and the mayor's office.

—Darlene Levy. drawn from Udo Kultermann. Kenzo Tange: Works and Projects. p86.

The Creator's Words

"...modern architecture and Japanese traditional architecture have common characteristics— simplicity, standardization, openness, spaciousness and lightness...Simplicity or standardization means sometimes the formalistic. Openness of lightness means sometimes weakness, yes weakness, for example, against weather and climate.—Now, lightness or openness of spaciousness in the physical and psychological meaning cannot satisfy peoples' energy or desires. They want more eternal or more durable feeling. They do not want weakness or tentativeness, but this weak and tentative feeling that we have in modern architecture of the world. Architecture always should be a reflection or expression of social structure."

—Kenzo Tange. from Udo Kultermann, ed. Kenzo Tange: 1946-1969 Architecture and Urban Design. p9.