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

Archinect - News

Tokyo will stay the course with Zaha's Olympic stadium