Tokyo will have to find a new signature venue for the 2020 Olympics.
ArchDaily reports that Japan, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, announced today that it is ditching its plans to build an 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium in the city. In 2012, Zaha Hadid's architecture firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, won the rights to design the bicycle helmet-shaped stadium.
The rising price tag was one of the downfalls of the 70-meter-tall, 290,000-sm stadium. In 2014, the cost of the project was 163 billion yen, but that rose to 252 billion yen this year—the equivalent of jumping from $1.3 billion to around $2 billion.
The project was riddled with revisions and delays, along with some serious design flaws. Even as recently as a month ago, Japan was still set on continuing with the stadium, citing that any modifications would lead to construction delays.
Critics said the stadium would have encroached on local green space, like the Jingu Outer Gardens, and would have put a financial strain on future generations. Two Pritzker laureates, Toyo Ito and Fumihiko Maki, created a petition that gained nearly 15,000 signatures to stop the construction of the stadium. Alternate proposals included retrofitting existing stadiums from the 1964 Olympics.
Abe said that despite abandoning the design, the stadium would be ready by 2020 for the Olympics and the Paralympics that year, but that it would not be ready for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Zaha Hadid Architects released a statement saying that a revamped project would be ready for the 2019 Rugby World Cup along with the Olympics, and that "it is absolutely right that the benefits and costs of the new National Stadium should be clearly and accurately communicated and understood by the public and decision-makers in Japan and we hope that this is one of the objectives of the review announced by the Prime Minister."
Related Stories
| Nov 1, 2011
Sasaki expands national sports design studio
Sasaki has also added Stephen Sefton to the sports design studio as senior associate.
| Oct 20, 2011
UNT receives nation’s first LEED Platinum designation for collegiate stadium
Apogee Stadium will achieve another first in December with the completion of three wind turbines that will feed the electrical grid that powers the stadium.
| Sep 30, 2011
Design your own floor program
Program allows users to choose from a variety of flooring and line accent colors to create unique floor designs to complement any athletic facility.
| Sep 16, 2011
Largest solar installation completed at Redskins' football stadium
On game days, solar power can provide up to 20% of FedExField’s power.
| Sep 12, 2011
First phase of plan to revitalize Florida's Hialeah Park announced
This is the first project of a master plan developed to revive the historic racetrack.
| May 25, 2011
Olympic site spurs green building movement in UK
London's environmentally friendly 2012 Olympic venues are fuelling a green building movement in Britain.
| Apr 11, 2011
Wind turbines to generate power for new UNT football stadium
The University of North Texas has received a $2 million grant from the State Energy Conservation Office to install three wind turbines that will feed the electrical grid and provide power to UNT’s new football stadium.
| Apr 5, 2011
U.S. sports industry leads charge in meeting environmental challenges
The U.S. sports industry generates $414 billion annually. The amount of energy being consumed is not often thought of by fans when heading to the stadium or ballpark, but these stadiums, parks, and arenas use massive quantities of energy. Now sports leagues in North America are making a play to curb the waste and score environmental gains.
