Last week, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the country was scrapping its plans for Tokyo's Olympic Stadium and that a different project would be started from scratch.
According to The Japan Times, the new plans have been set in motion. Construction on the stadium that will serve as the hub of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will begin in January or February, and a first draft of the stadium's functions, along with a cost projection report, will be completed by the fall. A new design and builder will be selected as well.
Hakubun Shimomura, Japan's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, said that a third-party will look into how construction costs for the previous stadium plan grew from 130 billion yen ($1.05 billion) to more than 252 billion yen (around $2 billion).
The original stadium, an 80,000-seat retractable roof venue designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, was an ambitious project that eventually had a number of flaws. Along with the rising costs and concerns about construction delays, critics said that the stadium interfered with local green space, put a financial burden on future generations, and was unattractive aesthetically.
Pritzker laureates Toyo Ito and Fumihiko Maki started an online petition that urged the country to consider upgrading the existing Meiji Jingo Gaien Stadium instead of displacing citizens who lived around the proposed Olympic Stadium.
Shimomura said that the plan is for the new stadium to open in the spring of 2020, prior to the Olympics.
Related Stories
| May 24, 2018
Accelerate Live! talk: Security and the built environment: Insights from an embassy designer
In this 15-minute talk at BD+C’s Accelerate Live! conference (May 10, 2018, Chicago), embassy designer Tom Jacobs explores ways that provide the needed protection while keeping intact the representational and inspirational qualities of a design.
Building Team Awards | May 16, 2018
Game, set, match: United States Tennis Association National Campus
Gold Award: With 100 courts and more than 260,000 sf of vertical construction, the USTA National Campus is a sanctuary for tennis enthusiasts.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | May 15, 2018
Is this the most environmentally sustainable arena in the country?
The university arena was designed by Architectural Resources Cambridge.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Apr 19, 2018
Watch a time-lapse of Wrigley Field’s most recent phase of renovations
The renovations took place between October 2017 and April 2018.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Apr 19, 2018
Northwestern’s new multi-sport training facility offers expansive views of Lake Michigan
Perkins+Will designed the facility.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Apr 3, 2018
Westminster College’s new athletic stadium includes a turf field and seating for 2,000
The project is the largest capital improvement project on the campus in over a decade.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 30, 2018
Final Four excitement? Here are two collegiate sports facilities to check out before your weekend of hoops
CannonDesign recently shared new images of two collegiate sports projects with interesting ties to college basketball past, present and future.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 27, 2018
The second-oldest basketball arena in NCAA Division I receives $15.5 million update
Bruner/Cott & Associates led the revitalization project.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Feb 23, 2018
A gym’s exercise equipment helps power an arts and sciences center in Rochester, N.Y.
The equipment’s supplier is eyeing the U.S. for aggressive growth.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Feb 1, 2018
USC selects Hathaway Dinwiddie and AECOM to mange L.A. Memorial Coliseum renovations
The iconic stadium opened in 1923.
