A self-described “unlicensed architect” who splits his time between Tokyo and New York, [Hiroshi] Sugimoto has brought his monastic Modernist aesthetic to life through the firm New Material Research Laboratory, which he co-founded with the architect Tomoyuki Sakakida in 2008. “Most of my ideas are illegal,” says Sugimoto, who considers it Sakakida’s job “to make it look like it’s legal.” — The New York Times

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. — The Guardian

Tokyo-based Dynamic Map Planning will undertake the task of mapping out roadways in the highest detail to date (featuring such useful insights as curb location, lane height, and limits on turning), intended to be 20 times as precise as current maps [...]

The company will also lead the effort to equip Tokyo with digital infrastructure that will allow self-driving vehicles to pick up on factors that can change or appear in their surroundings as often as every few minutes or even seconds — forbes.com

An apartment building known as the “holy land of manga” due to its famous former tenants is to be rebuilt and opened as a museum of manga and anime in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward.

Tokiwaso, which was demolished more than 30 years ago, will be reconstructed in a park [...] Past occupants included “God of manga” Osamu Tezuka, the author of “Astro Boy,” who lived there in the 1950s; Fujiko Fujio of “Doraemon” fame; “Cyborg 009” creator Shotaro Ishinomori; and “Osomatsukun” artist Fujio Akatsuka. — asahi.com

The museum, which will open on Tennozu Isle in Tokyo’s Shinagawa district will not only be a place for these models to be displayed, but also act as an effort to preserve them.

The space will be lined with over 100 shelves to display their permanent collection, in addition to special exhibits. Each model in the museum will be accompanied by a QR code which can be scanned using a smartphone to access more information about the structure, including photos of the completed work. — popupcity.net

Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers on Monday chose logo A — a stark indigo-and-white checkered circle — as the games’ replacement emblem after the original design was scrapped last year amid claims of plagiarism.

The Tokyo 2020 Logo Selection Committee chose the logo from a shortlist of four following a competition open to any resident of Japan aged over 18. Almost 15,000 entries were submitted.

The winning logo was designed by Asao Tokolo, a 46-year-old artist [...]. — japantimes.co.jp

Many local architects complain that these high-end follies are not serious architecture, but gimmicky flash. In many cases they are right. But that’s O.K. Form, as any architect will learn, follows function. In this case it’s selling a name and a mystique. — NYT

“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”. — theguardian.com

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

The company promised to “faithfully reproduce” several beloved artifacts in the lobby, including wall tapestries, paper lanterns and sliding doors, the lacquered furnishings and map of time zones...But those plans have done little to assuage the concerns of preservationists, many of whom contend that Tokyo is destroying its greatest postwar architectural assets to accommodate the 2020 Olympics and a recent surge in tourism. — The New York Times

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 [...]. — japantimes.co.jp