Archinect - News

Tokyo's 1964 Olympics architecture remembered

2020-07-31T14:12:00-04:00

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the Olympics’s first postponement: Tokyo 2020, its name unchanged, will now take place in July 2021 if it takes place at all. Yet all around the Japanese capital is the legacy of another Olympics: the 1964 Summer Games, which crowned Tokyo’s 20-year transformation from a firebombed ruin to an ultramodern megalopolis.

NYT art critic Jason Farago takes a look back at the now iconic architectural and visual design — and its transformative power — of the 1964 Olympic Summer Games in the Japanese capital, 19 years after WWII had ended.

"Those first Tokyo Olympics served as a debutante ball for democratic, postwar Japan, which reintroduced itself to the world not only through sport but also through design," writes Farago.

All construction of permanent Olympic venues in Tokyo is now complete

2020-03-10T12:53:00-04:00

Construction of all new permanent venues for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics is now complete, organizers said Friday, as preparations continue despite worries over the new coronavirus outbreak. The announcement comes as the International Olympic Committee insisted this week that a potential cancellation or postponement of the Games due to the virus was "not mentioned" at a meeting of their Executive Board.

According to Japan Today, the last venue to be completed was the Tokyo Aquatics Center for swimming, diving, and artistic swimming. It will seat 15,000 fans for the Olympic and Paralympic games. "The main pool features a movable wall allowing the 50-meter facility to be converted into two 25-meter pools," reports Japan Today.

Concerning the coronavirus, Japan Today reports that "organizers have been battling to reassure athletes and would-be spectators that the Games remain on track despite the spread of COVID-19."

Tokyo Olympic Stadium: construction progress 'as planned'

2018-09-10T14:01:00-04:00

But so far, things have remained “on schedule,” and the Olympic stadium is on pace to be completed by the end of next year. [...] Takeo Takahashi, the general manager of the stadium project, told the media that “roughly four-tenths” of the construction has been completed, but the situation is “as planned.”

It's been deliberately quiet around the NEW New National Stadium in Tokyo after the original, winning design by Zaha Hadid Architects was publicly attacked, and eventually officially canceled by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe himself, and a replacement Olympic Stadium scheme was hastily selected from a pool of two established Japanese architects and expedited to break ground in December 2016.

Kengo Kuma's stadium design is currently under construction and scheduled for completion by November 2019.

But things appear to be going well now; the press was even invited by the Japan Sports Council this summer to tour the massive construction site and document the progress.

Kengo Kuma wants to change the definition of architecture

2018-02-15T17:31:00-05:00

Rejecting flashy forms in favor of buildings in harmony with their environment, the architect — poised to become world famous for his stadium for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo — is trying to reinvent his entire trade. [...] Kuma, a constant source of paradoxes and ironies, often makes demagogic statements on behalf of his own brand of architectural modesty. “I want to change the definition of architecture,” he told me; in a way, he already has.

Nikil Saval pens a beautiful profile of Kengo Kuma for T Magazine and investigates the architect's ongoing quest to ground his version of Modernism in authentic Japanese craftsmanship.

Japan's timber industry deplores the plastic seats of Tokyo's new stadium

2017-10-19T14:05:00-04:00

Dignitaries at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games will obviously get the best seats--those made of wood--but ordinary common folk will have to make do with plastic.

Less than 1 percent of Tokyo's Olympic Stadium seats will be wooden. Those will be allocated for the best views of the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as track and field events. The country's timber industry has been advocating since 2016 to install wooden seats for all the spectators as a symbol of Japan's craftsmanship and to promote the forestry industry.

'We're very disappointed (with the decision). We will still continue to propose that wooden seats be introduced, as making use of this domestic natural resource will prove beneficial to maintaining the mountain environment and preventing disasters (such as landslides),” said Yasuhide Nakayama, head of the federation of Diet members for the promotion of Japan's timber industry.

Kengo Kuma's Tokyo Olympic Stadium breaks ground

2016-12-13T17:29:00-05:00

Tokyo has held a groundbreaking ceremony for a $1.5bn (£1.2bn) national stadium that will host the 2020 Olympic Games. The prime minister, Shinzo Abe, Tokyo’s governor, Yuriko Koike, and other dignitaries attended the event on Sunday at the site of the demolished national stadium that was used during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. [...] The ceremony ended with a video showing how the stadium is expected to look and function once completed by November 2019.

A quick refresher, here are just a few instances of the Tokyo Olympic Stadium saga in the Archinect news:

Iraq honors Zaha Hadid with commemorative stamp — which features rejected Tokyo stadium design

2016-06-20T17:45:00-04:00

The Iraqi postal service has issued new postage stamps honoring two of the country's beloved architects: Zaha Hadid, who died in March, and Mohamed Makiya, who died last year at the age of 101. Hadid and Makiya both changed the perception of architecture in the Arab world and introduced some of the aesthetics of Arabic-inspired architecture in projects around the world.

A small selection of Archinect news posts covering ZHA's winning/not winning Tokyo Olympic Stadium bid:

H/T Curbed

"The Haves and the Have Nots" – digesting the most important news of the week that was, on Archinect Sessions #49

2016-01-21T18:46:00-05:00

As last week's episode was taken up by Pritzker-hooplah, this episode takes a look back at the major news items of the last week(ish) and gets you caught up with what's been happening in Archinect news.

We discuss: the recent photo exhibition on homelessness at USC (which closes tomorrow!); the Treasury Department's controversial new practice of tracking and identifying secret buyers of luxury housing; how BIG's 2 World Trade Center is now in limbo after "anchor tenant" Rupert Murdoch has pulled out; the demolition of yet another not-beloved-enough Brutalist building; the big ol' chunk of cash the U.S. now has to prepare for driverless cars; and the ongoing debacle over the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, as Zaha Hadid Architects accuses Kengo Kuma Associates of copying their design, while Japan won't pay ZHA until they hand over the design copyrights.

Phew! What a week. All original news postings are available in the shownotes.

Listen to episode 49 of Archinect Sessions, "The Haves and the Hav...

Did Kengo Kuma copy elements of Zaha Hadid's Tokyo Olympic stadium?

2016-01-18T18:18:00-05:00

“In the design, I would like to say there are no similarities at all,” Kuma told reporters when asked about Hadid’s claims. [...] “The conditions set for the competition mean that automatically some similarities emerge ... the concept is completely different, so it is absolutely a different building, despite the similarities”. [...] Hadid’s office is reportedly consulting lawyers, and said it would “take legal action if our concerns are not promptly addressed to our satisfaction”.

For more on the contentious issue of architectural copyright and intellectual property, make sure to check out:

Tokyo Olympics refusing to pay Zaha Hadid for work on the national stadium

2016-01-14T14:55:00-05:00

The organisers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are refusing to pay a British architect for her designs for its main stadium unless she gives up the copyright and signs what amounts to a gagging order, it has been claimed. Zaha Hadid Architects, which won the original contract to build a state-of-the-art national stadium in the Japanese capital, has reacted angrily to the attempt by the Japan Sports Council to effectively seize ownership of the copyrighted designs.

New details continue to emerge from the dispute between Zaha Hadid Architects and the organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which is rapidly shaping up as one of the most acrimonious conflicts that the profession has witnessed in decades.

According to the Telegraph, the Japan Sports Council (JSC) is refusing to pay the British architect and her firm for the work they completed after initially winning the competition to design a new Olympic stadium. Documents sent to ZHA now demand the firm acquiesce ownership over their copyrighted design as well as sign what sources say amounts to a "gag order."

According to the report, the revised contract agreement stipulates that the JSC is "allowed to use any product of work ... regardless of its copyright." For some, this amounts to admitting that the Kengo Kuma-design borrows heavily from the ZHA stadium, in particular with regards to the entrance, the geometry of the stadium, the landscape design, and structural layout.

The "gag order" implied...

Zaha Hadid issues disappointed statement on Tokyo Olympic Stadium decision

2015-12-22T12:20:00-05:00

Now that the cat is out of the bag and the Japanese government has officially announced Kengo Kuma's stadium proposal as the new winning design for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, all eyes are on Zaha Hadid Architects, design firm of the voluptuous initial winning stadium spaceship which was ultimately pulled back to earth in mid-takeoff by the immense gravity of an outraged public reaction.

Dame Hadid, fighting for a second chance for her redesigned submission until the very last minute, reacted swiftly and issued an expectedly disappointed statement on her website this morning:

“We were honoured to be selected to design a stadium that would enable Japan to welcome the world for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and bring the 2020 Olympic Games to Tokyo, before becoming a new home for Japanese sport for many future generations.

“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.

“This shockin...

Kengo Kuma selected for new Tokyo Olympic Stadium

2015-12-22T02:01:00-05:00

The government on Tuesday picked a design by architect Kengo Kuma for the new National Stadium, a building that is expected to become the centerpiece of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. One of two short-listed entries and identified until now only as design A, Kuma’s plan was a joint submission in partnership with construction giant Taisei Corp. The competing design, identified as design B, was by architect Toyo Ito [...].

Last week's rumors turned out to be true - the winning Design A was indeed developed by Kengo Kuma & Associates, beating out Toyo Ito's less successful Design B.

UPDATE: Zaha Hadid issues disappointed statement on Tokyo Olympic Stadium decision

Previously in the Archinect news:

Kengo Kuma & Toyo Ito rumored to be designers behind new Tokyo Olympic Stadium proposals

2015-12-15T17:20:00-05:00

Wood latticework, green shrubbery, sunken sports fields and temple-like touches can be seen in the two final design proposals for Tokyo’s controversial new Olympic Stadium. [...] The new proposals [...] are more understated in style and also smaller in physical form compared to the originally commissioned design. [...] The agency has not named the firms behind the two final designs, although unconfirmed local media reports stated that they were Kengo Kuma and Toyo Ito [...].

Design A - rumored to be by the office of Kengo Kuma.

Design B - believed to come from Toyo Ito's firm.

Which design is your immediate favorite? Who is going to finally build the Japan National Stadium? Let us know in the comment section.

UPDATE: Kengo Kuma selected for new Tokyo Olympic Stadium

Previously in the Archinect news:

Japanese government hopes to cap Olympic stadium costs at US$1.28 billion

2015-08-28T12:17:00-04:00

The government hopes to cap the cost of building the main stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at ¥155 billion, much lower than the ¥252 billion projected under a recently scrapped plan [...]. The government intends to make sure that the stadium will be built by April 2020. But given the International Olympic Committee’s request that the venue be built by January of that year, it plans to ask a yet-to-be-named contractor to propose shortening its construction schedule, the sources said.

Read more about the troubled New National Stadium Tokyo in the Archinect news:

Not over yet: Zaha Hadid releases 23-minute film pushing for Tokyo Olympic Stadium

2015-08-26T13:47:00-04:00

In an architectural "hail Mary" move, Zaha Hadid Architects put out a 23-minute video stating their case for Japan to keep their embroiled design for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Stadium. When Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe announced approximately five weeks ago that ZHA's design was being dropped, citing concerns over an inflated ¥252 billion price-tag since the initial competition-winning submission, ZHA denied that the design was to blame for the increased cost, and instead placed the responsibility on the less-than-competitive Japanese contractor market.

In the slick, info-laden 23-minute video, Dame Hadid herself makes the case for the stadium: "it was a very serious team of people, of engineers, of architects, who looked at this project for two to three years, so it was an enormous investment. I think it’s a very important project because it has a lot beyond the Olympics, it has a legacy life.” That legacy life is the core justification for every design element that may, at first...

Are uncompetitive Japanese contractors to blame for Zaha's New National Stadium budget blowout?

2015-07-29T13:43:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects is not going away quietly, but cogently. In a statement forwarded by the Japan Olympic Committee, ZHA details the origins of what would eventually become the budget fracas over the cancelled New National Stadium, noting that early in the design process "we advised the JSC [Japan Sport Council] that working to an immovable completion deadline, against a backdrop of rocketing annual increases in the cost of building in Tokyo, and in the absence of any international competition, the early selection of a limited number of construction contractors would not lead to a commercially competitive process."

Here's the full statement:

Our teams in Japan and the UK feel it is necessary to set the record straight on the Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) design for the new National Stadium for Japan, which has been developed to the client’s brief and budget. It is also only right that the Japanese people are fully aware of the reasons for the reported budget increase and, with exact...

Zaha Hadid reportedly not giving up on Tokyo stadium plans

2015-07-23T13:38:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid, the architect whose plans for the National Stadium have been scrapped, hopes to remain involved in the planning for the centerpiece for the 2020 Olympics, the Japan Sport Council said Thursday. The council said Jim Heverin, a director of Hadid’s company, conveyed her wishes on a fact-finding visit to Japan following the cancellation. [...] Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Japan faces a ¥5.9 billion bill for the work done so far and contracts already signed.

Despite Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pulling the plug on Hadid's stadium design last week due to the unforeseen astronomical costs, the Japan Sport Council is nonetheless on the hook now for ¥5.9 billion (nearly $48 million) for the work that had already been done so far by various parties. Zaha Hadid Architects' fee alone is reportedly $11.88 million — and that's without any damages the firm might seek over the cancelled contract.

Previously:

Zaha's Tokyo Olympic Stadium cancelled – Abe calls for a redesign from scratch

2015-07-17T12:59:00-04:00

After multiple reassurances that Zaha Hadid Architect's design for the Tokyo Olympic Stadium would continue, despite skyrocketing costs since its 2012 announcement and constantly decreasing public favor, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced today that the stadium would be scratched in favor of a complete redesign. The stadium, which was most recently estimated to cost ¥252 billion, had become more and more expensive due to rising construction costs in Japan, NHK World reports.

Zaha Hadid Architects issued a statement on their website responding to the decision, stating that the rising costs were not due to the design per-se, and that the real difficulty was agreeing on an acceptable construction cost. The statement expressed confidence, based on past major stadium experience (such as for the 2012 London Olympic Games), that ZHA could reliably build their design in a cost-effective manner. Public opinion in Japan was not enamored with the design – it had even spawned a satiric...

From Z to A: Peter Zellner joins us in the studio

2015-07-16T18:27:00-04:00

This week on the podcast: Gehry's design for the Eisenhower memorial is finally approved, Zaha Hadid's Olympic Stadium in Tokyo gets cut-and-pasted into some very Japanese situations, and Peter Zellner, Principal and Design Lead of AECOM's Los Angeles architecture division, and founder of Zellnerplus, sits down for a chat.

Listen to episode thirty-eight of Archinect Sessions, "From Z to A: Peter Zellner joins us in the studio":

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Download: this episode

Shownotes:

Paul's trip to the races: Southern California Timing Association

Take a tour along the Ballona Creek bike path, from Culver City to the Pacific Ocean

At the Congressional hearing over the Eisenh...

“I thought, ‘What?’ when I heard it would cost ¥252 billion,” Tadao Ando says about National Stadium

2015-07-16T14:32:00-04:00

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.

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.

Japanese slam highly unpopular Tokyo Olympic Stadium design with hilarious memes

2015-07-14T19:33:00-04:00

The price tag for 2020 Tokyo Olympic stadium is now a whopping $2.1 billion. That’s more than the stadiums for the past three summer Olympic stadiums combined. That’s pretty silly! So is the stadium’s new Photoshop meme.

With the current estimated cost for Zaha Hadid 's stadium design clocking in at more than $2 billion (that's $700 million more than the initial estimate), a recent poll by Japanese news network NHK found that "81 percent of respondents say they disapprove of the plan to build the stadium without changing its design." Only 13 percent said that they approved.

Here are a few of the cheeky Japanese memes critically expressing their discontent with the pricey design for the 2020 Olympic Stadium:

By Twitter user @nickjil

By Twitter user @AKID_0831

By Twitter user @641236A

By Twitter user @nabe_chan_

By Twitter user @yuki_japantokyo

Head over to Kotaku for more memes.

Recently in the Archinect News: Tokyo will stay the course with Zaha's Olympic stadium

Tokyo will stay the course with Zaha's Olympic stadium

2015-06-26T13:17:00-04:00

Two massive arches that form the backbone of the stadium's roof, a feature that critics blamed for raising construction costs, will remain part of the design.

When confronted with Zaha Hadid's too-big and too-costly design for the 2020 Olympic National Stadium, Tokyo officials decided to go ahead with the designs anyway – or else, add "too late" to that list of descriptors. Any additional major changes to the design (Hadid already scaled back the design after pushback from major Japanese architects) would delay construction too much. Now, construction on the stadium will begin in October of this year, and hopefully be finished by 2019.

Some background on Tokyo's 2020 Olympic National Stadium:

Hadid and Japanese at loggerheads over ‘turtle-like’ Olympic stadium

Zaha Hadid's Tokyo Olympic stadium slammed as a 'monumental mistake' and a 'disgrace to future generations'

Hadid’s stadium for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games ‘to be scaled back’

Zaha Hadid's 2020 Olympic Stadium under fire from Japanese architects

Japanese government pushes for advanced technology in Tokyo Olympic Stadium, including facial recognition

2015-03-09T19:54:00-04:00

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he wants Japan to showcase its cutting-edge technology in the new national stadium being built for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Abe made the remark on Monday at a meeting with a study panel on the stadium. [...] Prime Minister Abe [...] said he wants to hear people in other countries calling the new stadium great. Some people have raised concerns about high maintenance costs for the new facility.

While some of that Japanese cutting-edge technology (for example 3D projection) will be found in the entertainment department, other features, like facial recognition, could enable ticketless entrance and serve security and counterterrorism efforts.

Previously

Hadid and Japanese at loggerheads over ‘turtle-like’ Olympic stadium

2014-12-10T13:59:00-05:00

“They don’t want a foreigner to build in Tokyo for a national stadium. On the other hand, they all have work abroad. Whether it’s Sejima, Toyo Ito, or Maki or Isozaki or Kengo Kuma.” Last month Isozaki, 83, wrote an open letter to the Japan Sports Council, the government body in charge of plans for the 2020 Games, in which he attacked the “distorted” process that has led to “a dull, slow form”.

Previously

Zaha Hadid's Tokyo Olympic stadium slammed as a 'monumental mistake' and a 'disgrace to future generations'

2014-11-06T13:06:00-05:00

It was supposed to represent a dynamic future vision for Tokyo, flaring up out of the city’s Meiji Jingu park in sinuous white arcs. But Zaha Hadid’s design for the 2020 Olympic stadium [...] now facing its fiercest public attack yet. [...] In a lengthy open letter to the Japan Sports Council [...] Isozaki rails against the “distorted” process that has led to “a dull, slow form, like a turtle waiting for Japan to sink so that it can swim away”.

Previously

Protests pay off as Hadid alters Tokyo stadium

2014-07-08T13:17:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has admitted it has made changes to its design for the stadium that will be the centrepiece of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The firm has faced hostility in Japan with critics complaining that the proposed 80,000-seat stadium is too big, too costly and clashes with Tokyo’s urban planning. At the weekend, 500 protestors marched around the existing National Stadium to demonstrate over plans to replace it with Hadid’s proposal [...].

Hadid’s stadium for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games ‘to be scaled back’

2013-10-25T20:11:00-04:00

Six months after the Japanese government approved Hadid’s proposals, the country’s parliament has signalled a reverse in its support. Hakubun Shimomura, the minister in charge of education, sports and science, said that the New National Stadium would cost 300 billion yen (£1.8 billion) to build and that was “too massive a budget”. The design of the 80,000-seat stadium will be preserved but Mr Shimomura said: “We need to rethink this and scale it down.”

Zaha Hadid's 2020 Olympic Stadium under fire from Japanese architects

2013-10-10T13:45:00-04:00

Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki has gathered a throng of designers including Toyo Ito, Sou Fujimoto, Kengo Kuma and Riken Yamamoto to oppose the design of Zaha Hadid's 2020 Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. Maki, who was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1993, has organised a symposium where Japanese architects will protest against the scale of the proposed 80,000-seat stadium, which is set to become the main sporting venue for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games.

Zaha Hadid Wins Japan National Stadium Design Competition

2012-11-15T12:02:00-05:00

Japan’s Sport Council on Thursday awarded a contract to design and construct a centerpiece, billion-dollar national stadium that forms a key part of Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games to lauded U.K. firm Zaha Hadid Architects.

Previously: New National Stadium Japan Competition Unveils 11 Finalists

New National Stadium Japan Competition Unveils 11 Finalists

2012-10-30T20:18:00-04:00

Eleven finalists have been announced today in the international design competition for the New National Stadium Japan, including design heavy hitters like Zaha Hadid Architects, SANAA, UNStudio, and Toyo Ito. The finalists, announced by the Japan Sport Council (JSC) and jury chair Tadao Ando, were selected from 46 entries to proceed to the second and final competition round. The final winner will be selected on November 7 and officially announced later that month.