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Tokyo Olympic Stadium Design Falls at Cost Hurdle

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Not surprised, thing costed over a billion more than they wanted to spend. No clue what they can do now though, they already tore down the old one from the 60s that was in the spot.
 

AntoneM

Member
Global cities like Tokyo have no need to host the summer olympics.

They are loss leaders at this point. They are made to put a city on the map so to speak.

A place like Milan, Chicago, Bangkok, Mumbai?, Lagos, Tehran, etc.

Not that all of those places are the best to actually host a summer olympics, but I think it would help out in the long run.

Compare that to London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Cairo, Rome, Sydney, Sau Paulo, Mexico City, Toronto, etc. All of those cities are established global centers and have nothing to prove. Despite the fact that all those cities could and/or have pulled off olympics to great success, they have no need to do so.
 

IISANDERII

Member
Good that somebody had the balls to stop shit when escalating costs occur. I hope this begins a trend. (Fucking Stephen Harper and his billion dollar jets)
 
s1-reutersmedia-1.jpg

Just make it look like this and once the Olympics are long over, bomb the fuck out of a few sections to match the look of the Akira Olympic Stadium.
 

jstripes

Banned
A simple 3 years in art school led me to understand most architects are 100% up their own ass.

(Other architects have a vision that's actually accomplishable.)
 

A_Gorilla

Banned
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?

I have to imagine a lot of it is just posturing. Nothing impresses other nations more than a shiny new stadium, even it becomes a rusted White Elephant once the event is over.
 
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.

Japan is big on recycling. The Budokan was built for the last Tokyo Olympis they held, and since then it's been in continuous use as a concert venue and for sporting events. For 50 years. Same with many other facilities from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. That's not to say that a ridiculously over-budget stadium is a good thing. It's probably better that this new design was scraped. But it's also false to say that in every case the Olympic venues will be completely ignored once the Olympics are over.
 
A simple 3 years in art school led me to understand most architects are 100% up their own ass.

(Other architects have a vision that's actually accomplishable.)

The problem is you met architect in an Art School, meet an architect from an engineering school and it'll be totally different.


If only there was a city or county that has the infrastructure built to at one point host 2 professional baseball teams, two professional basketball teams, two professional football teams, two professional hockey teams, a fuckin Soccer team, two major universities with huge sports program, two smaller universities with sports programs, a slew of community colleges with sports programs, a huge parks and rec department with a strong emphasis on youth sports and have one of the county's cities be named Sports Town USA by Sports Illustrated. If only.
 

Condom

Member
Japan is big on recycling. The Budokan was built for the last Tokyo Olympis they held, and since then it's been in continuous use as a concert venue and for sporting events. For 50 years. Same with many other facilities from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. That's not to say that a ridiculously over-budget stadium is a good thing. It's probably better that this new design was scraped. But it's also false to say that in every case the Olympic venues will be completely ignored once the Olympics are over.

True and the '1 time venue' thing is more the case in poorer countries, still public administrators should always keep the budget in line just as you say. The net-income from the venue should (in monetary or social-benefit terms) always be at a positive.
 
True and the '1 time venue' thing is more the case in poorer countries, still public administrators should always keep the budget in line just as you say. The net-income from the venue should (in monetary or social-benefit terms) always be at a positive.

That certainly sounds like a good idea to me. But, it's an interesting contrast with this line of thought:

Global cities like Tokyo have no need to host the summer olympics.

Will the buildup for an Olympics ever be a net positive for a less major city? It seems like only a "global" city could ever hope to have the population and economy necessary to attract things like sports teams, major concerts, or global events that could make future use of Olympic facilities.
 

Vitten

Member
In all my life, I don't think I've ever heared a big public project like stadiums for the Olympics, a World Cup or another sporting venue meeting its initial projected budget price.
It always ends up costing at least twice as envisioned.

You'd think local authorities would have wised up by now but noooo... they always act surprised..
 

Timbuktu

Member
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?

In pretty much every 'competition' for high profile projects like this, you tend to see the same names like Hadid, OMA, H&dM, Chipperfield, SANAA, Ando etc. i guess Hadid's style has won her commissions to some massive white elephants where the contractors underbid at tender, Quantity Surveyor miscalculate and construction end up tripling the original budget at the public's expense. She's isn't the only one though, even a decent office like H&dM can end up with something like their Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, taking tens years to build and will come in ten times over initial projected cost. They also did Beijing's Birds Nest of course, but they have done some pretty great stadiums like the Allianz Arena and more recently in Bordeux.

Allianz-Arena-stadium-Herzog-and-de-Meuron_dezeen.jpg


Bordeaux-Stadium_Herzog-de-Meuron_dezeen_468_9.jpg
Bordeaux-Stadium_Herzog-de-Meuron_dezeen_468_1.jpg


Their Chelsea stadium dezeen looks crazy though.

You can't just blame the architects for this, as there are obviously a vast choice of architects who can have things done on budget, but politician are chasing this Bilbao effect. Procurement for these big public projects are hardly ever done well and cost overrun can be prevented if there is the will to plan the building in its final form at the beginning and only then proceed to procure. There is hardly ever that much foresight though. I have doubts if they plans for what is to be done now that Hadid's design is scrapped is properly considered. If Japan still proceed with a new stadium, it would have to be rushed and that would probably mean it would still cost a lot.

I have to say that i have grown to like the London stadium, but there whole deal to lease it to West Ham and convert it out of the public purse is incredibly misguided. I do this the Stratford area will end up ok. The architecture can be dreadful, but it is nice to have another hub in the east and it will be interesting when V&A and the Smithsonian set up their outposts there.
 

sprsk

force push the doodoo rock
I'm happy about this. It was a terrible design that looked like a bicycle helmet.

I think everyone wanted something more distinctly Japanese and hopefully that's what we get.
 
It's OK to have a foreign architect design but they should keep in mind the look of the locale and incorporate it into their design. The helmet was about as extravagantly separated from reality as it could've got. Hopefully the next design will represent Japan a little better.
 

Ogimachi

Member
That's hideous, modern architecture strikes again. I'm glad this was scrapped, but now there's a risk it'll be some utilitarian allegedly cost-effective design.
At least fancy constructions may become a tourist attraction. A huge, generic arena will never generate enough interest unless it's got 100 years or so of sports history in it.

They should just make it resemble a japanese temple.
 

dramatis

Member
Why does it have to resemble a Japanese temple? It's a sports arena, not a place of prayer and meditation. God forbid Japan has architecture that isn't 'ancient Japan-looking' in that weird stereotype people wasn't it to be.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
How does stuff like this work though? Presumably the stadium would have been a major part of the successful bid. Are there no repercussions for flat out scrapping it and starting over? Stretching the point what would stop a government just lying out of their asses of cost and scope to get the bid, and then reneging on the whole thing and putting on a shitshow?
 

Skinpop

Member
In all my life, I don't think I've ever heared a big public project like stadiums for the Olympics, a World Cup or another sporting venue meeting its initial projected budget price.
It always ends up costing at least twice as envisioned.

You'd think local authorities would have wised up by now but noooo... they always act surprised..

that's why they are scrapping it. in japan it's company suicide for builders to not meet deadlines or budgets.
it's not like here in sweden for example where the entire construction industry is run by corrupt gangsters. It wouldn't surprise me if japan has the most reliable construction industry in the world.
 
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

Thanks for the link - was curious to see what the other design submissions looked like

I did some further digging and found info on the other semi-finalists:

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

Seems like Japan has some good options if they turn to the finalist's designs so it'll be interesting to see if they opt for complete re-submission and selection in 6 months or turn to one of these 'back ups.'

As much as I dislike Hadid's design I can't help but feel for her. For all intents and purposes she pretty much had her crowning signature piece ready to go for build in 2 months only to see it get scrapped at the 12th hour. At least she has the Qatar World Cup stadium on the build list - assuming it ever sees the light of day.
 
Why does it have to resemble a Japanese temple? It's a sports arena, not a place of prayer and meditation. God forbid Japan has architecture that isn't 'ancient Japan-looking' in that weird stereotype people wasn't it to be.

Plus, Tokyo has a ton of great modern architecture! A modern stadium wouldn't be out of place at all compared with some of the buildings in Shinjuku. (Not that it should be this particular modern stadium design, but modern isn't bad! Tokyo is modern!)

that's why they are scrapping it. in japan it's company suicide for builders to not meet deadlines or budgets.
it's not like here in sweden for example where the entire construction industry is run by corrupt gangsters. It wouldn't surprise me if japan has the most reliable construction industry in the world.

uhh... is this sarcasm? I'm pretty sure yakuza are heavily involved in construction.
 
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