When he realized that he could never make it as a professional soccer player, Japan’s Tsuyoshi Tane realized he had to give up that dream and start another. He discovered a passion for architecture, pursued that goal instead and now he is slowly reaping the rewards.
After graduating from university, he went to Britain to study architecture with different design firms. When he was 26, he won first prize in a design contest together with his colleagues for the national museum of Estonia, and was then appointed to make it come to fruition. He incorporated the shape of the Soviet Army’s runway that was still on the grounds of the museum. Estonia became an independent country in 1991, after being annexed by the Soviet Union. It’s for this reason that some locals criticised his design at first. But Tane explained that the museum will “build new history based on memories of the past” and that architecture will be used to open to that future. The construction for the new museum will start this March and is scheduled to be completed by 2015.
In 2011, Tane also competed to design the new national stadium in Tokyo. He teamed up with a French design firm to compete with more experienced architects. He was one of the 11 finalists, which includes Sejima Kazuyo, a world-class architect. Iraqi native Zaha Hadid eventually won the contest, although to be included in the finalists is a big thing already for the now 33 year old architect. He is now based in Paris, using his global experiences and the disciplines he learned from football, like physical strength and teamwork, to further build on his career.