Tokyo 2020 Olympic Stadium Draws Fire

                                                        New Olympic Statium (http://www.dezeen.com)

Zaha Hadid’s design for the 2020 Olympic came under fire from Japanese architects this year resulting in changes in the original design. A group of Japanese architects led by award winning Fumiko Maki attacked Hadid’s proposed building as being too big, too expensive and poorly designed. The architects led by Maki included Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma and Sou Fujimoto.

On 8 July 2014 dezeen magazine reported that the Japan Sports Council had reduced the budget for the stadium from 300 billion Yen to 189 billion Yen. Zaha Hadid Architects responded by adapting the design to make materials more cost efficient.

The national stadium is not the only venue that is being re-thought. The construction of 10 other venues are now being reviewed due to rising labor and construction costs. The use of existing facilities is being proposed as a cost-cutting alternative. On 19 November 2014  Reuters reported that, IOC Vice President John Coates urged Japan to move events outside the city to cut spending. Such moves would go against Japan’s Olympic bid proposal calling for no venue to be more than 8km from the Olympic Village.

It is likely that some solutions will be arrived at in meetings to be held in Japan in early 2015. Whatever the outcome, it is clear that is back to the drawing board for the 2020 Olympics.