Kuma's design picked for 2020 Tokyo Olympic stadium
By Japan Today, Dec. 22, 2015
A proposal by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has been selected as the new design for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics main stadium following the scrapping of the initial design by an Iraqi-British architect, the government announced Tuesday.
It said Kuma’s team has received the green light for its Plan A blueprint, which cites a total construction cost of 149 billion yen ($1.23 billion), far below the estimated 265.1 billion yen for the controversial scrapped design by Zaha Hadid.
Kuma, who is currently a professor at the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Tokyo, has won numerous international architectural awards. Among his major works in Japan are the Nezu Museum (Tokyo), Suntory Museum of Art (Tokyo) and LVMH Group Japan headquarters (Osaka).
A meeting led by the education ministry will be held in January to discuss how the Olympic stadium will be used after the two-week competition.
The stadium designed by Kuma will be built in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward on the site of the previous National Stadium that served as the main venue for the 1964 Olympics, which has already been demolished. The Games’ opening ceremony will be held at the stadium on July 24, 2020.
(Read the full story on Japan Today)
