22 Dec 2015
Zaha Hadid cries foul as Tokyo 2020 stadium design is chosen
BY Matthew Campelli
Japanese architects Kengo Kuma have been selected to design the 80,000 capacity stadium which will be the centrepiece of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The design was selected by the Japanese government after it was put forward by the Japanese Sports Council as one of two shortlisted proposals last week.
Kuma’s design will cost ¥149bn (£806m, US$1.2bn, €1.1bn) and is due to be completed by November 2019. It will be built by construction giant Taisei Corp.
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said the proposal was a “wonderful plan that meets criteria such as basic principles, construction period and cost”, but the decision was slammed by British architect, Zaha Hadid, who had originally been on board to design the stadium before Abe pulled the plug.
“Sadly the Japanese authorities, with the support of some of those from our own profession in Japan, have colluded to close the doors on the project to the world,” the company said in a statement.
“This is shocking treatment of an international design and engineering team, as well as the respected Japanese design companies with whom we worked, was not about design or budget,” added the statement. “In fact much of our two years of detailed work and the cost savings we recommended have been validated by the remarkable similarities of our original detailed stadium layout and our seating bowl configured with those of the design announced today.”
Kuma’s design incorporates a combined steel and wood structure with a flat roof and greenery along its surrounding concourse. The 50m (164ft) structure was chosen by an expert panel over a proposal put together by a consortium which included Takenaka, Shimizu, Obayashi and Toyo Ito.
“The stadium incorporates the views of experts in the construction field and we are looking forward very much to using the new stadium as the centrepiece of the Tokyo 2020 Games,” said president of Tokyo 2020, Yoshiro Mori.
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