Tokyo: Final stadium design in July?

source: Reuters.com / JapanTimes.co.jp; author: michał

Tokyo: Final stadium design in July? It’s the final phase of cost-cutting measures in Tokyo. In early July Zaha Hadid should sign the contract for complete documentation of the new 2020 Olympic Stadium. No change of architects is possible.

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It seems we are in the last weeks of prolonging discussions about final shape and price tag of the Tokyo National Olympic Stadium. While already reduced significantly from its 2012 initial form, the building’s design is still being updated by architects before them receiving the final contract for delivery of the stadium.

Only after this final version is adopted will Zaha Hadid Architects sign the final design contract. "At this point we expect that a contract will be concluded at the start of July, but we're still exploring cost cuts and revisions, and if a better plan emerges later the contract could also slip to later," education minister Hakubun Shimomura said during today’s news conference.

Tokyo National Stadium

"The absolute priority is that the stadium must be finished by the spring of 2019, and then that costs be cut." To meet the first criterion, Tokyo cannot afford scrapping the current design for a cheaper and smaller one, as was suggested recently.

Final price tag on the new stadium is yet to be established. From ¥130 billion in 2012 it skyrocketed to ¥300bn in 2013. Then it was lowered in 2014 to just over ¥162bn, but recent estimates again suggests it’s beyond the ¥250bn mark.

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