Architect says 2020 Tokyo Olympic stadium too big

Looks like a huge bicycle helmet.

It's worth noting that Tokyo 2020's Olympic budget is ten times larger than the government's Fukushima clean-up budget.

It would dwarf one of Maki’s nearby creations: the 1990 Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

Is there really a problem with it? Or is he just jealous because it will dwarf one of his creations?

Once a Dutch printer living in Tokyo was walking with me near the (then) newly constructed Tokyo city hall in Shinjuku when he gestured toward it and remarked, "In Europe we have a saying: 'If you're going to make something ugly, make it big!'"

Japan don't need to impress anyone. It should have made slightly smaller and more green stadium. Other than that, I hope it is designed to withstand magnitude 9 earth quake.

That thing is a monster and actually was selected for political reason... check who is on the selectors board and who the finalists are and it will be quite clear.

It will destroy greenery in the area, ruin many of the current near by buildings viewsite and contributes nothing, being in that area there is no need for it to be open 24/7 so that argument is empty too.

I really rather this design to be chosen... could be great to have another nice park in the middle of this city http://www.jpnsport.go.jp/newstadium/Portals/0/NNSJ/en/26.html

Where was this guy complaining when that big ugly thing called sky tree was built?

I think it's too big. And we don't get to see the design unless we fly. Please build more elegant one.

Alex Einz, I admire your respect for nature, Alex Einz!

Not exactly what I would call "aesthetic"... For a nation "in debt" that seems like an awful lot of money to spend on a white elephant...

ChenchanOct. 17, 2013 - 07:44AM JST

If I remember well, the picked project was the most conventional and cheapest from the ones submitted so who's got a pain his ass for that?

Oh, really? Which one would you pick?

http://www.jpnsport.go.jp/newstadium/Portals/0/NNSJ/en/winners.html

http://www.jpnsport.go.jp/newstadium/Portals/0/NNSJ/en/finalists.html

Where did you get the information that it was the cheapest?

The proposed stadium is 3 times as large as the main stadium of London Olympics. But the seating accommodation is about the same.

@dog

You're talking about capacity, not size, which is the cause of the problem here.

I bet there'll be way too much use of concrete

I agree. They should build a wooden one.

"130 billion yen"

That's a lot of money. Couldn't they build a new stadium, for say, half of that, or 65 billion yen? Dang, that would still be a lot of money...

actually, no its unlikely to be filled often the current stadium is largerly empty and run-down so unless the sell it off for music concerts...I dont really see much use

So that's about £800 million / $1.3 billion on a sports/ event stadium - I can't help but think they could get a perfectly nice stadium for half that cost and use the rest of the money to help rehome all those displaced people in the Touhoku area.

I fits just as much with its surroundings as the train station in kyoto

I bet there'll be way too much use of concrete, whatever design they decide on.

By the looks of the way things are going here, dare I say it.....Logan's Run? They should start building these all over Japan.

Ditto ogtob. :)

I live fairly close to the current stadium, but I say make it as big as possible. They're using that new stadium for the 2019 Rugby World Cup as well, so there should be plenty of demand as well as longevity afterwards as Tokyo has no J League stadium.

Its capacity will be similar to a mid-sized U.S. college football stadium. I don't know how that compares to other stadiums in that region of Japan. Is there good reason to think that it'll be filled up on a regular basis after the Games?

Honest question! I'm just curious.

Well, they say it was designed with all sorts of purposes in mind. I can't imagine working on the acoustics in a place like that. :-P

It looks like a lot of the "space" may be the walkways. If they're really to be open 24 hours, they might end up being meet-up, date, or jogging areas. I guess we'll find out.

He's right by 2020 Tokyo will be too radioactive for the games....

I smell sour grapes.

His motivation seems pretty obvious...

The 130 billion yen, 80,000-seat stadium, with an arching retractable roof, would be built on the site of the smaller 54,000-seat main stadium for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. It would dwarf one of Maki’s nearby creations: the 1990 Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

Ch3CHO: It's a well known fact that from the start Tokyo bosted their bid as the cheapest and most compact, and now it seems since getting the vote they are throwing out a little more size and cost than planned upon.

"“Basically all the concerns raised have already been addressed,” Takasaki said. “We have nothing more to say.”

Well, when it's being torn down a few years after the Olympics because no one can afford to perform or play there, don't say we didn't tell you so. Ah, but you'll have cashed in your cheques by then. The Olympics are fun and exciting, but people are, after the fact, going to rue the day Tokyo got them.

It's gorgeous! Let it be. Make it happen.

wonderful, new buildings that occupy large portion of prime land for one event.

saying it’s too expensive and would clash with its surroundings.

If I remember well, the picked project was the most conventional and cheapest from the ones submitted so who's got a pain his ass for that?

With all his talk about how this design won't work “for the Japanese people" and how "we should think about what kind of Japan we want for the future”, I get the impression he's a bit miffed that some gaijin won the contract and not him.

Ch3CHO: It's a well known fact that from the start Tokyo bosted their bid as the cheapest and most compact, and now it seems since getting the vote they are throwing out a little more size and cost than planned upon.

"boasted their bid as the cheapest"? No.