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But nostalgia rarely makes for good decision making. Keep the tower and repurpose it as a tourist destination. With the money saved, we can erect a better stadium serving the city’s current and future needs. Not all landmarks are sacred. When fire consumed the Notre-Dame cathedral, they raced to replace the roof; Montreal’s Olympic Stadium is not Notre-Dame. — The Walrus
Quebecers face a vexing choice: Keep the stadium or pursue an even costlier demolition that would erase the landmark, which late architect Roger Taillibert called a “poem in concrete,” owing to its location over two underground metro stations. The new, $870 million replacement roof that is... View full entry
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
A quick refresher, here are just a few instances of the Tokyo Olympic Stadium saga in the Archinect news:Kengo Kuma selected for new Tokyo Olympic StadiumKengo Kuma & Toyo Ito rumored to be designers behind new Tokyo Olympic Stadium proposalsTokyo Olympics refusing to pay Zaha Hadid for work... View full entry
“People involved in building stadiums are usually very reliant on the firms who have demonstrated a strong record in understanding sports sites,” [Christopher S.] Dunlavey said. “BIG is known very well for very innovative architecture and design, but they haven’t been known for that kind of expertise.” — Washington Post
National Football League sports stadium design isn't usually a province of the starchitect, but in typical convention-defying style, the Bjarke Ingels Group isn't letting that deter them. In other parts of the world, starchitects have had mixed success with stadium design; Herzog & de Meuron's... View full entry
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... View full entry
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
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 decisionPreviously in the Archinect news:Kengo Kuma &... View full entry
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 [...].
— telegraph.co.uk
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... View full entry
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.
— japantimes.co.jp
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 StadiumAre uncompetitive Japanese contractors to blame for Zaha's New National Stadium budget blowout?Zaha Hadid reportedly not giving up on... View full entry
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.
— japantimes.co.jp
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
