ARTEAGA RIOS FERNANDO CANEK / DAINA TELLO LOPEZ

More than a design competition, this was a competition for spatial and structural proposals launched in 2016 in Japan on the occasion of the election of this country as the new venue for the 2020 Olympics (which were later canceled due to the pandemic) in which Participants were encouraged to create new structural proposals that could be implemented in the future in the stadiums.

This particular stadium had already been proposed as the official venue for the Olympics, and the design competition won by renowned Iranian architect Zaha Hadid who would start building it in the next few years. But in the face of criticism and international pressure regarding the excessive spending that would entail building a project of that magnitude and capricious form, in addition to the reference of previous Olympic games where the expensive stadiums have a useful life of just a few weeks and then be Almost completely abandoned, this project was temporarily suspended. Given these events, the idea arose that a new project with the same purpose was proposed on the same site, a stadium for the 2020 Olympics.

In the end the result was the most satisfactory, since despite the fact that the contest was not won, from the organizers I received an email in which the judges of the contest who rated the winning projects obtained their opinion and qualification of my project. Among these judges is WILLIAM F. BAKER, structural engineer in charge of calculating the BURJ KHALIFA, the tallest building in the world, among other personalities.

STADIUMS NOWADAYS SELDOM OFFER SOMETHING NEW. AND THAT’S A PROBLEM

In an increasingly competitive world, architecture has lost its way. It focuses on creating the most fancy and complex wrapping for the usual framework and design, after all, the idea of the architects is to sell as soon and as quickly as possible and move on to the next development. The architecture has lost its essence: the search for new and better ways to solve spaces.

The stadiums

The stadiums are facilities used for only afew hours a day, few times a month and relatively few seasons a year. That is, their use is incredibly short when compared to the tremendous impact its presence will have on the environment. A stadium is a huge, imposing, monumental construction, designed for everyone to take notice, but ironically, almost always empty: a dead, cold and gloomy building, desertedoff season,and with little people around it. It becomes a huge wall,always blocking the view,imposing itself on nature, spaces, roads, and offering nothing to those living close to it.

The idea behind the new National Stadium of Tokyo is to create a space that is even friendlier in its function and with the environment. A space where you can see the improvement not only in terms of functionality, but also in presence, and especially in terms of impact at floor level: the most important place for the user on arrival and apparently the most ignored by designers.

Considering all factors mentioned above, our selected starting point is an icon of Japanese culture: the "MINKA" house: one of the most recognizable symbols of Japan, not only for what it represents for the universal culture, but also for the spiritual and functional perfection of its solution: Simplicity of form, an open invitation to light, and large outdoor spaces to relax the body and soul.

This way, the new stadium is released from the "lost zone", the blockade, the gloom and dirt, elevating the bleachers área from the floor level, allowing the passage of light and ventilation, and more importantly: the passage of the visual line of sight. Thus, from the point of view of the community, the user and pedestrians, there is no visual obstacle anymore: instead of a mass of concrete, now there is a view of the horizon to enjoy.

Japanese style, everything is supported by columns, allowing the entry of much more indirect light, so it becomes cleaner, brighter, friendlier, and above all: STUNNING. The building is now an open space, where depending on the needs, can be access-controlled or freely open for the enjoyment of society: a sort of modern Roman coliseum that can be visited by the community. The stadium is transformed and thus becomes a new entity. A multi-purpose evolution that can transform it from a simple place of entertainment, to a recreational space, a community forum, a place to visit, a reference to society, and so on. 

Structural concept

The structural basis of the new Tokyo Stadiumlays on the followingcore idea: Why spend on raising a frame for each individual element of the project, each one independent from others and superimposed among themselves?Suchstructures, super-structures, and sub-structures are redundant if you can achieve a single self-sustaining one, by linkingan item with others through the balance of its parts.

For the incorporation of this ideas to an initial base for design, an apparently complex structure was sought, but despite this rather efficient because of the simplicity of its solutions. So the perimeterstructureof the complex, rather than being supported by columns every 6-10 m, in all directions, is instead supported by a balance lever in equilibrium: while the long arm pushes down because of the weight of the structure, the short one counteracts it through small and thin tension cables. In this way,the whole structure of the stadium remains in place despite the monumentally cantilevered appearance. The fact isthe balanceof weights eliminates all unnecessary extra support.

The objective of taking the concept of a weighing scaleisboost performance of the mechanicalness of the structure.Let’s take the roof for example:lifting a cover of this size surelyrequires an impressive amount of energy, and the wearing of the components. But if it can auto-balance its masses at all times, the effort will be minimal: as the great wise Archimedes said: "Give me a place to stand and a lever long enough and I will move the world".

The movement of a child’s seesaw clearly exemplifies the idea: a body positioned at one end of the seesaw, at the right distance, can lift a similar amount of mass at the other end. As you move away, you can lift even more weight, or can balance the forces maintaining both bodies in a state of suspension in the air. Similarly, is possible tomove them down and up softly, with barely noticeable changes.

 All this can happen in a natural way and without abrupt movements, only through mechanical horizontal movements to the right place, at the right time and the rest is done by gravity.

 This principle, applied to the cover of the stadium, makes the structure more complex, but safer with the environment. So, we have a modern and cost-effectivefacility in the long term, also quite sturdy and difficult to decompose, but above all, we have a cover that can adapt to the climate, allowing free flow of air, open for evening concerts, closed in rain, capable of following the sun movementsand providing a unique viewing experience.