World-famous architect Tadao Ando was astonished to learn that the design he chose for the new National Stadium would cost ¥252 billion to build, he said at a press conference Thursday, where he spoke for the first time since the swelling cost became an issue. — The Japan News
According to Reuters, the massive ballooning in the construction costs of Zaha Hadid's relatively unpopular proposed design for Japan's National Stadium are not the fault of the chairman of the design committee, Tadao Ando: "Soaring construction and labor costs, along with a rise in Japan's sales tax, are blamed for much of the price surge." Ando also noted that “We shouldn’t drop Ms. Hadid’s design, otherwise we’ll lose credibility internationally.” The enormous increase in the cost of the stadium is awkward, as the country is still not fully recovered from the devastation of the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
26 Comments
US$ 80 MILLION ARCH FEE @ 4%, I could run any practice for many years with that kind of parametric money
JLC, you obviously do not understand the cost to run an office. First class tickets London>Tokyo alone cost $10k. So figure the team travels twice a month to check on the site, and that's 1.4 million a year right there. Not even including how often Zaha and Patrick need to travel around to promote the project and the event. Hopefully they managed to get travel as a reimbursable expenses because this type of project will bankrupt a firm in no time.
^ lol...you are joking right?
no way will it cost 250 billion...thats impossible...calatravas path station was 4 billion...
jla, what do you mean? What is the joke about?
Plus it is 250 billion YEN - shows how well you would run a business.... into the ground...
1 yen = .0081 USD
knoa you are right when you say this kind of project can bankrupt a firm, but are you really feeling sorry for Zaha? What the fuck? There are times when excess is OK and there are times when its not. This falls into the 2nd category.
Secondly, they will set up a site office, and will be lucky if people from the London office visit once a month. Also, remember, with Japanese construction expertise, they will not need as much supervision.
So, even if this bankrupts the firm, someone will end up making a shit load of money (hint - Z and P)
That $2B US.
Budget number of course, double it for actual construction cost. What's really astonishing is that Ando picked this turd.
my bad...read it wrong...
oh well. it's officially off...
I don't expect the new design will come in on budget either. these kinds of projects aren't set up for that - it's contrary to the point of patronage.
OK so apparently they are scrapping the project:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/17/asia/japan-tokyo-olympic-stadium-scrapped/index.html
Typical xenophobia intent on bankrupting one of the greatest architects of all time because she doesn't have a penis. Way to go Japan.
knoa,
sooooo they should just build it, knowing it will go over budget and taxing Japanese residents for many years to come, just because she doesn't have a penis?
It sucks that they couldn't live up to the goal of international competition, but they have guts to stop it before it gets out of control.
I may be wrong but I don't really sense that this is a direct refutation of Zaha or her work, or lack of a penis. I feel like the Starchitect backlash has started, and Japan, being in my mind a conservative culture, would be bold enough to stop the project based on fiscal concerns only.
Wish Will would weigh in here!
This article by Ollie Wainwright, whose writing I respect like hell, has some very good background on the opposition (along with some really cutting quotes from both sides including Ms. Hadid herself):
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jul/17/the-troubled-history-of-zaha-hadids-tokyo-olympic-stadium-project?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=dlvr.it
It also makes me want to clarify my previous statement. I think there is a small backlash against the very idea of starchitecture mounting, but I think the bigger backlash is against enormous projects, especially for sports, that cause real hardship for average citizens and shackle governments with long-term maintenance costs. This article says that 300 households would have been evicted to build this stadium, and I think that kind of outrage, along with human rights abuses in so many countries that are building enormous projects right now, are what is driving regular people to protest.
Plus, the article says that they already have a stadium? They didn't cite the cost, but what would it cost to fix up the existing stadium? It would be less I'm sure.
Did anyone see the thing on John Oliver's show about the stadium-building racket? I still can't believe they tore down Yankee's Stadium. And the public is only on the hook for $1.2 billion of that one.
Sadly the existing stadium has been demolished... The scrapping of the Hadid design has been a foregone conclusion since the day it was unveiled. It was a tone deaf decision made in a post 3/11 Japan, which is till recovering, and in massive debt. What I was surprised to read in that Guardian article is the fact that London's stadium has not been dismantled, as planned, but has been added on too (or at least filled to the brim with bells and whistles). I think this has been more a victory for practicality rather than an attack on Zaha personally (although she seems to think it is)
Typical xenophobia intent on bankrupting one of the greatest architects of all time because she doesn't have a penis.
kanoa, c'mon dude.....
Yeah,
Typical xenophobia intent on bankrupting one of the greatest architects of all time because she doesn't have a penis.
If you were to run this through a logic machine, none of it's premises would be found to be true.
Well, well lets give it a go:
Xenophobia: No.
One of the Greatest Architects of all time: ummmm - see photo above. Then: No.
She doesn't have a penis: Well, um, uh - Yes?
But you threw that one little bitty fact in to serve as a condition to validate the other facts... so: No.
And if it comes to bankrupting a single Londoner, in order to NOT bankrupt the capital city of another sovereign nation - well then, yes. Yes that is what they should do. And if they're doing it because of certain little flappy pieces of flesh, or lack thereof, they have every right to use that as the reason.
But is that even remotely close to the reason?
No.
Well played Ando. Well played....
The Ando design is gonna be way better
Some choice quotes from mid's article:
Japan scraps plans for controversial 'bike helmet' Olympic stadium
But a spokesman for Zaha Hadid Architects denied that the design was to blame for cost increases.
I'm not responsible! should be her firm's motto. Reminds me of Qatar.
Jim Heverin, project director at Zaha Hadid Architects, said the company's teams had worked to design a "new home for Japanese sport for the next 50 to 100 years," using experience gained working on the London 2012 Olympic Games and other big-name sports and cultural projects.
For reference, the London Aquatics Centre was budgeted at £75m and ended up at £269m (3.6x).
"It is not the case that the recently reported cost increases are due to the design, which uses standard materials and techniques well within the capability of Japanese contractors and meets the budget set by the Japan Sports Council," Heverin insisted.
Standard only in regard to Hadid's work. The Japan Times reported that Board members of the JSC, an external body of the sports ministry, said the skills needed to build special components of the design account for ¥76.5 billion of the project cost alone.
What the hell but the design doesn't exactly look like a helmet to me. I won't say what it resembles reminescent to me.... be kind of inappropriate but no more than some architecture designs.
Costs here have gone up by 20-30% across the board in the last years, and it looks like they might go higher. Thats just to start.
I imagine the estimated cost was inflated because the builders are not certain how much it will actually cost. Its not like there are a set of detailed drawings for every aspect of this not so straightforward design yet, so its the only way to manage risk. How much of a buffer I would not care to guess, but its in there.
The xenophobic thing, I am not sure about. I dont think so, not in the direct aggressive way that some folks in the states hate each other at least. Its there though in how actions were taken with regards to the protestations. I think Japanese felt there was no way to talk with Zaha and so it became more of an attack than a critique in some ways.Non-architects seem readier to say xenophobic things about it. Even so, its a pretty passive occurrence. her gender has nothing to do with it.
The most interesting idea floating right now is simply that PM Abe just rammed through a law that is crazy unpopular here, which will contravene the constitution and allow Japanese soldiers to fight in actual wars. Doing that, he now has less support in the govt and had to let one of the other controversies die on the cutting room floor. He can now say he is listening to the will of the people. This is more about politics than anything else, including fear of cost over-run and whether the designer has a penis.
It is most certainly very little about Zaha or the design.
Unless they change the olympic planning something of about the same size and shape is going to be built in the same place, by a star-architect most likely, and for a similar cost. So yeah, whatever...
My only wish is that they pick someone who works on the urban planning side of the design this time around. So far none of them have really acknowledged that a site exists at all, and that includes all of the Japanese architects. The site is within walking distance of my office so I guess Ill get to watch it go up either way.
Will,
Thanks for the thoughts. At least from someone in Japan.
Kanoa is Zaha spelled backwards.
Um......
Zaha is ahaZ
Hadid is didaH
So, WTF?
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