National Stadium(1964 Olympic Stadium)

[munichfan]

1. Firstly, is the existing seating bowl going to be utilised at all or is this a complete rebuild?

2, How will the configuration of the stadium work - is the athletics track a permanent feature, covered by retractable seating, or some kind of temporary platform solution?

Zaha Hadid project (UK)

Seems to be a system similar to Stade de France, so it will be a total rebuild.

[Rob2012]

So this isn't going to be a "glossy bid phase rendering, more practical stadium built later" situation ala London? This design would actually get built in Tokyo?

This rebuild is for the 2019 Rugby World Cup which Japan already has. Whether it'll end up looking exactly like the renders is questionable, but - barring disasters - Japan will end up with a Hadid designed National Stadium.

But as I said, I'd like to know how this stadium will work in practice, and therefore how the powerful athletics lobby in the IOC will receive it.

[Rob2012]

Seems to be a system similar to Stade de France, so it will be a total rebuild.

Thanks. Really interesting if that's the case with three very different athletics solutions going head-to-head. Perhaps worthy of a new thread, in fact.

EDIT: and I've started one here

Edited November 17, 2012 by RobH

[Athensfan]

I can't image the IOC turning up their noses at Tokyo's brand-new stadium. Hadid is hot right now. I think the IOC will be very excited by this project.

[Olympian2004]

So this isn't going to be a "glossy bid phase rendering, more practical stadium built later" situation ala London? This design would actually get built in Tokyo?

Who knows... Usually the Olympic Stadia (at least if they were newly built or significantly rebuilt) changed their looks drastically between the bid and the actual Games. On the other hand, this is not a generic "OK, our stadium could look like in this concept", but it's very specific with one specific architect already named.

But even that doesn't have to mean anything. Remember that Herzog & de Meuron had to redesign Beijing's Bird Nest even after they got the contract for designing the stadium - they had to scrap the originally proposed retractable roof due to rising costs. I can imagine that something similar could happen to Zaha Hadid's design as well, bearing in mind what a massive amount of concrete, steel and other material would be needed to construct that monstrosity of a roof.

[baron-pierreIV]

Japan got the trick for winning a bid. Pick and submit EXTRAVAGANT designs (and which will be whittled down to some sanity when reality sets in).

[Athensfan]

Even a simplified Hadid stadium will still make a dramatic impact and will still become an iconic landmark.

[runningrings]

Personally, I'm so over Hadid. Her firm regurgitates the same concept at any international design competition they can get their hands on - and her projects are NOTORIOUSLY expensive. This is the antithesis to the London Model. We've already had a Hadid in London 2012 - so now are we in for a more extravagant repeat in 2020?

Also, it will be sad to see all trace of the 60's modernity of the 1964 venue wiped. I'd have rather see it kept with some kind of interesting roof design over the renovated bowl, a la Munich or Athens.

[world atlas]

from SSC

[baron-pierreIV]

from SSC

Is that another joke by the Tokyo committee?

Edited December 13, 2012 by baron-pierreIV

[runningrings]

Zara Hadid is so repetitive.

[paul]

*barf* with bleachers.

[world atlas]

Rugby: New stadium is real game-changer

By Michael Burgess

5:30 AM Sunday Dec 23, 2012

An artist's impression of the Tokyo stadium to be open in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

If the All Blacks reach the final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, they will be playing in the most technologically advanced stadium the world has ever seen.

The old national stadium in Toyko, the site of Peter Snell's glorious Olympic double (800m and 1500m) in 1964, is due to be knocked down by 2014 and replaced by the new 80,000 seat venue. The new design features a retractable roof and fully adjustable seating, which slides out to make room for an athletics track, or draws in to bring spectators close to the touchline for a rugby or football match.

"I think it will be the most modern stadium in the world," Japan Rugby Football Union chairman Tatsuzo Yabe told the Herald on Sunday. "We can change the shape by moving the seats - that is one of the most important things and means fans will be as close as possible."

Japan has a history of being able to construct sleek, modern stadia. They built several new venues for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and already boast a facility in Hokkaido that can switch to either a baseball or football venue.

The budget for the new stadium is a cool 130 billion ($1.85 billion), which would also be the most expensive stadium on the globe, surpassing the recently constructed New Meadowlands Stadium in New York, which hosts NFL teams the Giants and the Jets.

The winning design was submitted by London-based Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, after a worldwide competition that eventually attracted 49 submissions. The criteria was strict - apart from the 80,000 capacity, retractable roof and adjustable seating it also had to be environmentally efficient, complement the surrounding landscape, allow for smooth traffic and be ready for 2019. Hadid was the architect of the London Aquatic centre used at the recent Olympics, a focal point of the 2012 Games.

"We hope that the new stadium will become a tourist attraction in its own right," says 2019 Rugby World Cup Organising Committee CEO Koji Tokumasu. "It should be a spectacular structure and is a superb location with five metro stations within five minutes' walk."

It is ambitious undertaking and there are already some concerns about the budget, especially as the cost of the Hadid-designed Aquatic centre in London blew out from an original estimate of £72 million ($141 million) to £270 million.

Still, the Japanese approach differs markedly from New Zealand's stop-gap, half-measure approach for 2011 in partially renovating Eden Park.

"The National Stadium was built in 1958 so we had to update it," says Tokumasu, "you have to progress otherwise you will never get future FIFA World Cups or other big worldwide events. The most important thing in today's economy is to not spend too much money that will not last after the World Cup. If you make a stadium with extra seats and it stays forever, that will be good. But if it is just temporary that is no good."

Construction of the new stadium, which will also host the 2020 Olympics if Japan's bid is successful, is expected to be completed by 2018.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10855823

[gotosy]

Cheer! Nippon Christmas charity football match at Tokyo National Stadium

http://www.facebook.com/cheernippon

[baron-pierreIV]

oh yeah, the Japanese and their ersatz X'mas celebration. One of their fake attempts to be so 'western.'

[cormiermax]

oh yeah, the Japanese and their ersatz X'mas celebration. One of their fake attempts to be so 'western.'

The Japanese don't have any drive to be perceived as Western, they have a very proud national culture and work very hard in keeping outside influences out. Christmas was imported to Japan by corporations to make money, its the same thing with other western holidays like halloween and valentines day.

[baron-pierreIV]

The Japanese don't have any drive to be perceived as Western, they have a very proud national culture and work very hard in keeping outside influences out. Christmas was imported to Japan by corporations to make money, its the same thing with other western holidays like halloween and valentines day.

I disagree. The Japanese pride themselves as the being the most "advanced/industrialzied" country in Asia, therefore on a par with the Western powers. I mean that was behind their whole drive to industrialize in the last part of the 19th century.

[cormiermax]

I disagree. The Japanese pride themselves as the being the most "advanced/industrialzied" country in Asia, therefore on a par with the Western powers. I mean that was behind their whole drive to industrialize in the last part of the 19th century.

Oh sure they take great pride in their place in the world and how they rank along Western nations, but thats doesn't mean they want to be perceived as Western. There was indeed a great effort to Westernize Japan in the 19th century, but that was more than 100 years ago and things have greatly changed since then. They have their own system where its feasible, rather than just adopting something from afar.

[paul]

Tokyo National Stadium

[world atlas]

Tokyo 2020 welcomes National Stadium remodel contest winner

(L to R) Tadao Ando awards stadium architect Zaha Hadid / Tokyo 2020

CHAD WISE / Sports Features Communications

March 20 – Zaha Hadid of Zaha Hadid Architects, the winner of the contest to update and remodel Tokyo’s Kasumigaoka National Stadium, was welcomed to Tokyo by the Tokyo 2020 Bid Committee today, weeks after the International Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission’s visit to the Japanese capital.

Tokyo 2020’s promise to deliver an innovative Games will be shown in Hadid’s design concept, which combines a strong sense of history with a pioneering vision for the Olympic Movement. Hadid received an award at a ceremony hosted by the Japan Sports Council.

“We had a very successful Games in London, and I’m sure Tokyo will also be able to host a fantastic Games with its great sports facilities,” Hadid said. “It’s really a great honour and pleasure for me to be here and accept this award.”

“The dynamic and futuristic design moved the jury, and I am confident the new stadium will serve as the symbol for our burning desire to host the Tokyo 2020 Games,” world famous architect and Tokyo 2020 Council member Tadao Ando, who oversaw the contest, said.

The site of the main Olympic Stadium for the Tokyo 1964 Games, located in the heart of Tokyo 2020’s proposed Heritage Zone, will be the ground for the new National Stadium. The proposed stadium, the first Olympic Stadium to feature a retractable roof, will hold 80,000 spectators and will be served by at least six rail lines within walking distance.

“The new National Stadium will be a truly iconic structure that showcases sustainable leading-edge technologies and architectural designs,” IOC member and Japanese Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 President Tsunekazu Takeda said. “It is wonderful to welcome the world-renowned Zaha Hadid in Tokyo, whom we deeply thank for her remarkable design. It is our dream to see the Olympic Flame return to Tokyo and burn brightly atop our reborn National Stadium.”

The design competition was held in 2012 by the Japan Sport Council, owner o the Kasumigaoka National Stadium. The contest was held to solicit plans for an updated and remodelled stadium, to be ready for the IRB 2019 Rugby World Cup. The proposed National Stadium will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Athletics, Football and Rugby at Tokyo 2020.

Led by Hadid, the first woman awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize for the Bridge Pavilion in Zaragoza, Spain, Zaha Hadid Architects has designed 950 projects in 44 countries. Hadid also designed the Aquatics Centre in London for the 2012 Games.

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/olympicsnews/story/50090/tokyo-2020-welcomes-national-stadium-remodel-contest-winner

[gotosy]

Zaha Hadid gives a presentation upon being honored as the winner of the international design competition

[Athensfan]

Thanks, gotosy. Very interesting.

[baron-pierreIV]

It looks evil. It is seismically untested. Thousands will die when that thing falls down in a major Tokyo earthquake.

[Athensfan]

Anything to scupper theTokyo bid, right, Baron?

[runningrings]

It looks evil. It is seismically untested. Thousands will die when that thing falls down in a major Tokyo earthquake.

-insert obnoxious facepalm here-