When a fresh design for Japan's new National Stadium was chosen, "many believed it would finally put an end to months of chaos over its construction," according to Andrew McKirdy of the JAPAN TIMES. They "were wrong." Amid allegations that the latest design is "remarkably similar" to the original plan -- prominent architects and academics "warn that past blunders could continue to haunt the project even beyond the 2020 Tokyo Olympics." Tokyo Institute of Technology architecture professor David B. Stewart said, "What has happened in the case of the stadium is very special. There are several things that went wrong, and it's hard to know how they relate to one another. It's been an extraordinary mess." In December, the government selected a design by architect Kengo Kuma, "replacing the original 2012 competition-winning design by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid." But the controversy surrounding the stadium has "refused to abate." Hadid has alleged that Kuma's stadium layout and seating configuration contain "remarkable similarities" to her original plan. Kuma "insists similarities between the two designs are inevitable," but "not everyone agrees." Tokyo-based architect Edward Suzuki said, "There is some truth to that, but there are ways to make variations. Personally it is difficult to swallow what he (Kuma) says, because it is too similar." Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki, who led a '13 petition against Hadid's design, "disagrees." He said, "I'm not so sure it's a copy. When you look at her submission and now, it doesn't look the same. The latest scheme she did was a collaboration with Japanese architects." Not "all fingers, however, have pointed at Hadid when assigning blame for the stadium's problems." Maki insists that his opposition to Hadid's original design "was simply a consequence of the competition's design brief," which was set by the Japan Sports Council. Maki said, "The program was wrong. It was too big, too complicated and then, maybe, too expensive. And then maybe they would not be able to recover the costs after the Olympics. Architects follow what the program asks" (JAPAN TIMES, 1/29).
$20M DEAL: KYODO reported the JSC announced Friday that it signed a 2.5B yen ($20.6M) deal "with a joint venture to construct the new National Stadium, the main venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics." The government last month selected the proposal by Kuma, general constructor Taisei Corp. and Azusa Corp. The stadium, "scheduled to be built by November 2019," will cost an estimated 149B yen ($1.23B). The JSC "plans to complete the construction contract with the venutre and begin building by the end of this year" (JAPAN TIMES, 1/30).
