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[Blablurn]

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today announced that plans for Tokyo's Olympic Stadium will be scrapped due to escalating costs. The 80,000-seat stadium, designed by famed British architect Zaha Hadid, was to be the central venue for the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Construction was set to begin this fall.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, the original budget for the venue was ¥130 billion ($1 billion), but it ballooned to as high as ¥300 billion ($2.4 billion), eliciting calls for it to be downsized. Costs were eventually brought down to ¥252 billion, but that wasn't enough to quell the critics. On Friday, Abe announced plans to start over from scratch, adding that Japans' sports and Olympics ministers will now choose a new design. The stadium will not be ready for the Rugby World Cup, though Abe says he's confident that it will be completed in time for the Olympics.


"We decided that we will start over from the beginning," Abe told reporters after meeting with Olympic Committee Chairman and former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. "We made this decision with the confidence that we will complete the stadium in time for the Olympic Games."

Hadid was awarded the project in late 2012, in a competition that included several Japanese architects. Her design came under heated criticism from the country's leading architects, who said it would dwarf its surroundings in Tokyo, including the 1964 Olympic stadium designed by Kenzo Tange. One Japanese architect described it as "a monumental mistake," comparing it to "a turtle waiting for Japan to sink so that it can swim away." Hadid defended her design in 2014, telling Dezeen: "They don't want a foreigner to build in Tokyo for a national stadium."

"The fact that they lost is their problem, they lost the competition," Hadid added. "If they are against the idea of doing a stadium on that site, I don't think they should have entered the competition."

Zaha Hadid Architects did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/17/8987429/japan-scraps-olympic-stadium-tokyo-zaha-hadid

Sucks I think it looks impressive as fuck.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Make it look like this then

 

[samn]

Why do people still think holding these massive sporting events and building new stadiums (when there are often perfectly decent ones already available) is a great idea?

The amount we spent in London was shocking and none of the promised benefits have come about. I've visited the Olympic park and it is barren and hideous.

Amazing that Tessa Jowell thinks her record on this will help her to become London mayor.

edit - wait, i have a tag? since when?

 

[Joni]

Stop the Olympics, it is a huge waste of money on any economy. The Paralympics can be hosted in smaller regularly used stadiums like it is done normally.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Why do people still think holding these massive sporting events and building new stadiums (when there are often perfectly decent ones already available) is a great idea?

The amount we spent in London was shocking and none of the promised benefits have come about. I've visited the Olympic park and it is barren and hideous.

Yep. The fact that they can't repurpose existing events is stupid in terms of money being spend.

 

[Confrontation]

Just make it awesome-looking. Is all I care.

 

[DOG3NZAKA]

John Oliver just had a bit about this...

 

[Korey]

Well, it does look like a turtle.

Good for them being fiscally responsible. And realizing they don't have to go all out for the Olympics.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Just make it awesome-looking. Is all I care.

If Zaha is designing it then it will doubtlessly look like some sort of alien mothership.

 

[John Dunbar]

they should just have the olympics in greece every 4 years. the stuff from 2004 is probably still in decent shape and it couldn't be very expensive to update them a bit every 4 years if all participating nations just pitched in a little.

 

[Confrontation]

If Zaha is designing it then it will doubtlessly look like some sort of alien mothership.

Just Googled her designs. Looks amazing.

 

[shira]

Well, it does look like a turtle.

Good for them being fiscally responsible. And realizing they don't have to go all out for the Olympics.

I hope their bid was clean, after seeing what happened to FIFA, IOC is the next logical step.

2.4 billion dollar stadium is insane. I can't even fathom what it cost just to design that and cut the contract. Must be 7-8 digits to go back on Hadid

 

[Szu]

Definitely not cost effective for Godzilla visits.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Why do people still think holding these massive sporting events and building new stadiums (when there are often perfectly decent ones already available) is a great idea?

The amount we spent in London was shocking and none of the promised benefits have come about. I've visited the Olympic park and it is barren and hideous.

Amazing that Tessa Jowell thinks her record on this will help her to become London mayor.

edit - wait, i have a tag? since when?

repeated evidence of this doesnt seem to matter much though. It's a sad waste of money for one use facilities.

 

[DiscoJer]

They could add arms and rockets and turn it into MechaGamera.


Looks more like a bicycle helmet to me though.

 

[kmag]

Why do people still think holding these massive sporting events and building new stadiums (when there are often perfectly decent ones already available) is a great idea?

The amount we spent in London was shocking and none of the promised benefits have come about. I've visited the Olympic park and it is barren and hideous.

Amazing that Tessa Jowell thinks her record on this will help her to become London mayor.

edit - wait, i have a tag? since when?

London was one of the better run games and used a lot of existing venues. Not sure why they built a new stadium when they could just use an existing one.

I'm of the opinion countries should be awarded Olympics not cities. For London you could have had the cycling in Manchester for instance and saved a fortune.

 

[samn]

London was one of the better run games and used a lot of existing venues.

Sure, but even so the cost was stupendous and now we're seeing that there have been little to no benefits to tourism, physical activity, or the economy of the east end.

 

[CyclopsRock]

I'm really not a fan of Zaha's designs. They all look identical (compare this to, say, The 2012 Aquatics Venue or this one for Qatar 2022) and she's a total cunt to boot. If they can find anyone else to design it, I'll be happy.

 

[Dryk]

I hope it has autonomous water cannons like the Oita Stadium. Those systems are bad arse.

Why do people still think holding these massive sporting events and building new stadiums (when there are often perfectly decent ones already available) is a great idea?

To be fair Japan's decision to enter a bid occurred over a year before the election

 

[kmax]

5 years

 

[Ashes]

Sure, but even so the cost was stupendous and now we're seeing that there have been little to no benefits to tourism, physical activity, or the economy of the east end.

East End is booming though. The swimming pool is a god send for local swimmers and divers hoping to reach the highest level.
The Olympic stadium is gonna get shrunk and given to West Ham.

Still, overall I agree with you. In terms of money spent and value extracted, it is thus far a project that has seen a plethora of poor returns.

On a separate issue, building that super mall Westfield has killed the smaller existing mall in Stratford. Employs a lot of people, but still.

 

[cardinalmind]

Zaha Hadid continuing to have the streak of designs not coming to fruition. Are her designs that outlandish / expensive that most have problems creating them?

 

[Tugatrix]

Keep it simple people are not that demanding as IOC imagine

 

[toweringinferno]

East End is booming though. The swimming pool is a god send for local swimmers and divers hoping to reach the highest level.
The Olympic stadium is gonna get shrunk and given to West Ham.

Still, overall I agree with you. In terms of money spent and value extracted, it is thus far a project that has seen a plethora of poor returns.

On a separate issue, building that super mall Westfield has killed the smaller existing mall in Stratford. Employs a lot of people, but still.

That Super mall is one of the best things to happen in Newham. I live in the borough, a lot of jobs and lots of investments pouring into the area

 

[Upsidedown Fuji]

They should've remodeled the original stadium from the first Olympics. Modernizing it would've probably been much more cost effective and less of an eyesore.

The people who selected this design and tried to force happen to stuck with it are so out of touch with the general population. It was intensely unpopular from the initial unveiling. It was called everything from a toilet seat to a bicycle helmet.

This decision was made 3 years too late. Abe is trying to deflect attention from his highly unpopular war bill that circumvents the constitution that his party railroaded in during yesterday's lower house vote. He's throwing a bone to the people to try to keep his slipping popularity polls up.

 

[juicyfruitas]

Great news - Hadid's design is hideous. And for $2 Billion+ to boot? Child please.

If any city can start from scratch in under 4.5 years to get a new stadium up and running Tokyo is certainly it.

Here's an idea - instead of going for these garrish futuristic designs why not go with a stadium that looks uniquely Japanese - something that visually references the classic architecture of the enormous ancient structures in Kyoto/Nara or the roof styles found in their traditional castles+

 

[number11]

London was one of the better run games and used a lot of existing venues. Not sure why they built a new stadium when they could just use an existing one.

I'm of the opinion countries should be awarded Olympics not cities. For London you could have had the cycling in Manchester for instance and saved a fortune.

What other track and field stadium in London could host the Olympics? Would have been pretty funny to see us host the event in Crystal Palace.

 

[Mik2121]

Great news - Hadid's design is hideous. And for $2 Billion+ to boot? Child please.

If any city can start from scratch in under 4.5 years to get a new stadium up and running Tokyo is certainly it.

Here's an idea - instead of going for these garrish futuristic designs why not go with a stadium that looks uniquely Japanese - something that visually references the classic architecture of the enormous ancient structures in Kyoto/Nara or the roof styles found in their traditional castles+

This is something I've wanted to see as well. Japan has a lot of unique architecture, trying to use some of it in a modern way to get their own architectural style would be so badass. No need to reuse materials obviously, but at least trying to imitate some of the forms or details would make it quite unique.

 

[Tenebrous]

Looks like the end of a fleshlight... Horrible.

 

[EulaCapra]

"A stadium inspired by the look and feel of a bicycle helmet."

 

[Ganzlinger]

I'm not a fan of the design, so bring me other concept.

 

[Enthus]

Good. The less money spent on new venues for the Olympics, the better. Also, that straight up looks like a bike helmet.

 

[btkadams]

I feel like the olympics would be more interesting if different events were held in different countries that had an appropriate arena for their event. It would lessen the cost on any individual country (so they aren't doing the whole thing) and it would feel like a more "worldly" event.

I guess it would be a hassle for the Olympic committee and media to have several countries involved though.

 

[0OoO0]

This was the original design before they revised it

 

[Fragamemnon]

Looks like the world's biggest and most futuristic george foreman grill.

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

To be fair Tokyo is already a counterexample to the idea that Olympic projects take a lot of money and then these big works are just ignored. The facilities from the last Tokyo Olympics have seen regular use for over 50 years.

 

[Pakkidis]

Is it just me or these Olympic preparations getting worse and worse with each event. Sooner or later there is going to be a disaster and its not going to be pretty.

 

[orochi91]

This was the original design before they revised it

Seems oddly appropriate for Japan.

I could easily imagine Gundams being stored there in the future.

 

[Triplicates]

It's a shame this had to be scrapped in such a messy manner but it was the right decision. The price tag became ludicrous and I don't think it was the best design.

For reference, these were the other finalists back in 2012: http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/...ion-reveals-finalists/tab/slideshow/#slide/15

 

[Arrowgigantic]

My wife informed me that there was also an issue that when it was seen from a bird's eye view it looked like a giant toilet.

 

[Jake.]

"They don't want a foreigner to build in Tokyo for a national stadium."

100%.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

Wait I am slow on the news here but they are actually having the olympics in Tokyo in 2020?

Are the Olympic committee fans of Akira or something?

 

[Mr. Pointy]

This was the original design before they revised it

Looks like a vagina. I'm guessing they had to censor it.

 

[Condom]

Stop the Olympics, it is a huge waste of money on any economy. The Paralympics can be hosted in smaller regularly used stadiums like it is done normally.

This.

So much money wasted for a 1 time sport event. Many Japanese people are overworked for instance, throwing money at fixing that harming work-culture is a much better cause.

 

[Dice]

They just got scared that Master Chief would come blow it up.

 

[injurai]

Looks like a vagina. I'm guessing they had to censor it.

You joke, but that was an actual issue for a kayak design even with it being an art piece.

 

[Koodo]

comparing it to "a turtle waiting for Japan to sink so that it can swim away."

but wait @ this scathing shade

 

[-Horizon-]

Definitely not cost effective for Godzilla visits.

heh

 

[bobbytkc]

Looking at the picture in the OP, that is a pretty ugly looking stadium.

 

[Currygan]

Sure, but even so the cost was stupendous and now we're seeing that there have been little to no benefits to tourism, physical activity, or the economy of the east end.

did people really believe that? These are money vacuums, just like Expo