A peek inside the site for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic stadium

[Aepsilons]

TOKYO (AP) — As the clock ticks toward the 2020 Olympics, a wide-open, water-logged expanse in central Tokyo is still awaiting the start of construction on a new stadium.

Journalists in hard hats tromped into the site Monday for a brief look at the site, where work was to have begun this fall on a mammoth stadium for the Summer Games. The old National Stadium that hosted the previous Tokyo Olympics in 1964 has already been torn down to clear the way.

But the Japanese government pulled the plug on the design by renowned architect Zaha Hadid because of spiraling costs, sending organizers back to the drawing board.

For now the site sits vacant, the skyscrapers of Tokyo's Shinjuku district rising in the distance.

The Japan Sport Council hopes to choose a new proposal by the end of the year, and then develop detailed plans with a view to breaking ground in early 2017. The pressure will be on to finish in time for the opening ceremony in 2020.

 

[Aepsilons]

 

[Pangu]

I would be eager to see what futuristic design you guys come up with. Congrats on hosting the 2020 Olympics btw.

 

[Wolfwind]

Any pics of the proposed designs?

 

[tranquilium]

Is there any alternative stadium if this one can't be completed on time? I would image Tokyo has a quite a number of them that can be refitted for Olympics.

 

[Hailstorm]

Nippon ganbare!

 

[ahojunk]

I just stumbled on this news. Now that Japan has chosen a new design, I hope that Japan can complete the stadium by Nov 2019, before the 2020 Olympics.

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Japan Picks a New Design for Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic Stadium
LIZ STINSON | 12.22.15 1:12 PM

Kengo Kuma's design of the stadium

It will sit 65 feet lower than Zaha Hadid’s design

AFTER A FEW TUMULTUOUS years, Japan has finally chosen a new design for its main Olympic stadium, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2020 games. The new stadium, designed by famed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, replaces the Zaha Hadid design that was scrapped in July because of rising costs.

Last week, the Japanese Sports Council unveiled competing renderings from two anonymous architects, later revealed to be Kuma and Toyo Ito. Both designs were oblong structures marked by their low profiles and use of wood. The Japan Times reports that Kuma’s design beat out Ito’s for a decidedly un-sexy reason: “Design B proposed an unprecedented method for construction (to shorten the building period) by using new materials to build the stadium, whereas design A proposed using a more orthodox method that is familiar to everyone … I believe the judges assessed design A as being less risky,” Takashi Moriyama, an architect and critic, told the paper.

That the judges were smitten by a drastically simplified and reliable design isn’t surprising. Hadid’s striking helmet-shaped stadium was plagued by controversy, mostly stemming from its massive size and cost. Hadid’s $2-billion proposal called for 840,660 square-feet of space, compared to Kuma’s 779,307 square-foot building, which is estimated to cost (a not-insignificant) $1.3-billion.

The true selling point of Kuma’s stadium appears to be its modesty. Even after Hadid modified her original design to be lighter and cheaper, architects complained that the futuristic stadium failed to respect its surroundings. Hadid fired back that Japanese authorities simply didn’t want a foreign architect to build a national stadium. Whatever the real reason, it’s undeniable that Kuma’s plant-covered stadium is more aligned with Japanese tradition, which values natural materials and the harmonization between the built and natural landscape. Kuma’s plan features a steel and wood roof with an oval aperture over the playing field. It will sit 65 feet lower than Hadid’s design, allowing it to blend more seamlessly into its surroundings. The stadium will begin construction in early 2016, and, if all goes according to plan, will be finished by November 2019.