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.
— the Telegraph
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 by the new documents stipulates: "[ZHA] will not do or permit others (includes Dame Zaha Hadid) to obstruct the project ... or other related projects ... and will not do anything which is derogatory or detrimental to the goodwill and reputation of [the JSC] and/or the Project."
In a written reply to the JSC, ZHA states, "It may be convenient for those who have benefitted from our humiliation to want us to be quiet, but until the matter is publicly addressed, we cannot support a process and project which damaged us so wrongfully."
Related:
Japanese government hopes to cap Olympic stadium costs at US$1.28 billion
Not over yet: Zaha Hadid releases 23-minute film pushing for Tokyo Olympic Stadium
Zaha's Tokyo Olympic Stadium cancelled – Abe calls for a redesign from scratch
7 Comments
I love Japan, but the contempt with which they treat foreigners is legendary, and well documented. It's too bad it's something you only hear about when someone gets burned, this, being an excellent example.
Dont know how it works in japan but in australia whenever you work on a goverment project you would have to forfeit your copyright.
Pay her for work done, but the new one looks nothing like original ..,,
As far as the "gag" order goes it's not a gag, just a contractual obligation to stop slinging shit, which is pretty much all she's done for moths now, very publicly, which of course had no effect at all on the current situation. Prima Donna.
In regard to payment for work, we're all aware of the requirements to design for program including budget, and how the failure to do so can result in among other things loss of commission and payment.
So suck it up you hugely entitled whiner. Or send Patrik in, they'd probably pay him just to go away.
Her and Patrik will just have to suck it up - its a Karma payback
The Kuma design looks NOTHING like Zaha's vaccum cleaner. Yes it is an ellipse in plan, but then are most stadiums these days.
Just my opinion but it seems they just couldn't stand the idea that a potential national landmark would be designed by a... ugh... gaijin...
I like Kengo Kuma's design a lot, it looks very zen and ceremonial but I think ZHA's design was a better fit with the surroundings and played homage to the neighboring Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium and the Kenzo Tange design for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and to anything that is cutting edge architecture in Japan or elsewhere. However I was never a fan of the elevated plaza that tops the parking lot.
About the copying allegations, I think they are not justified, but it's an easy conclusion once you notice that both proposals present the use of terraces in the façade for exterior circulations and the use of timber, a very traditional Japanese material, for the envelope.
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