Tokyo 2020; IOC EB approves venues for cycling events

© Google Eart. Edited by Architecture of the Games
© Google Earth. Edited by Architecture of the Games

 

  • The Road Races and Time Trials will take place in the city of Tokyo, starting and finishing at the iconic Imperial Palace Garden, and showcasing Tokyo’s stunning backdrops.
  • The BMX events will take place at a purpose-built temporary facility at Ariake in the centre of Tokyo with 5,000 seats.
  • The Track cycling events will take place at the Japan Cycle Sport Centre in Izu, in the Shizuoka Prefecture, approximately 120km from Tokyo. The existing velodrome will undergo significant refurbishment, and the seating capacity will be increased.
  • The Mountain Bike events will take place at the Japan Cycle Sport Centre in Izu on an existing course, adjacent to the velodrome, which will be newly renovated to meet the Olympic standard. The course will feature the spectacular Mount Fuji as a backdrop.

 

Source / Read full article: IOC

Tokyo 2020; IPC Governing Board approve 19 of Tokyo 2020’s Paralympic sport venues

Photo: Francisco Anzola on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Photo: Francisco Anzola on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

 

Press release IPC:

IPC Governing Board approve 19 of Tokyo 2020’s Paralympic sport venues
12.11.2015

The venue masterplan was presented by Tokyo 2020 to the IPC Governing Board at its meeting in Mexico City on Thursday (12 November)

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board at a meeting in Mexico City on Thursday (12 November) approved the venues for 19 of the 22 Paralympic sports that will take place at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

The venues that were approved are as follows:

1. Archery – Dream Island Archery Field

2. Athletics – Olympic stadium

3. Badminton – Yoyogi National Stadium

4. Boccia – Olympic Gymnastic Centre

5. Canoe – Sea Forest Waterway

6. Equestrian – Baji Koen

7. Goalball – Makuhari Messe

8. Judo – Nippon Budokan

9. Rowing – Sea Forest Waterway

10. Shooting – Asaka Shooting Range

11. Swimming – Olympic Aquatics Centre

12. Table Tennis – Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium

13. Taekwondo – Makuhari Messe

14. Triathlon – Odaiba Marine Park

15. Sitting volleyball – Makuhari Messe

16. Wheelchair basketball – Ariake Arena and Musashino Forest Sport Centre

17. Wheelchair fencing – Makuhari Messe

18. Wheelchair rugby – Yoyogi National Stadium

19. Wheelchair tennis – Ariake Tennis Park

The venues for track cycling, road cycling, football 5-a-side and powerlifting are still under review from their relevant international federation. As a result these venues are expected to be approved by the IPC Governing Board at its next meeting in April 2016.

Sir Philip Craven, IPC President, said: “I would like to thank Tokyo 2020 for taking the due diligence to review their venue masterplan and work with each individual international federation to ensure, where possible, that Paralympic events are held at the same venues as those used for the Olympic Games.

“This new plan not only maximises the use of existing venues, in line with Olympic Agenda 2020, but also puts the interests of the athletes first.

“The approval of the majority of the Paralympic venues is another landmark in the organisation of what I am confident will be sensational Paralympic Games in 2020.”

On the approval by the International Paralympic Committee of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Venue Masterplan, Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said: “I am delighted to receive the approval of the International Paralympic Committee for our venue masterplan.

“Since the Paralympic sports programme was confirmed, Tokyo 2020 has conducted a thorough review of its venue plan, with a firm commitment to achieving an ‘athlete-first’ concept. Our overall venue concept places the athletes at the physical and inspirational centre of the Games in the heart of one of the world’s major cities.

“One of the guiding principles of the review has been to ensure that the venues also take into account the specific requirements of Paralympic sports. We will provide the optimal facilities and environment to enable para-athletes to perform to the peak of their abilities and strive to achieve a personal best in Tokyo in 2020.”

 

Source

Tokyo 2020; TOCOG launches design competition for new Olympic emblem

© Tokyo 2020
© Tokyo 2020

 

The Tokyo 2020 Emblems Selection Committee have launched a design competition for a new emblem for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

 

Press release:

16 October 2015 – Tokyo 2020 Launches an Open Competition for the Design of the 2020 Games Emblems

The Tokyo 2020 Emblems Selection Committee has today launched the design competition for the new Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games emblems. The competition is open to everyone regardless of previous experience or formal qualifications, and individual or group applications are welcomed.

Individual competition entries are invited from Japanese nationals over 18 years-old and foreign nationals over 18 years-old with the right of residence in Japan. Children and foreigners not resident in Japan can also take part via the group entries system (10 persons max.) as long as at least one person meets the above age, nationality and residential requirements.

The complete guidelines regarding the design competition for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games emblems are available here.

Applications can be submitted online from Tuesday 24 November to Monday 7 December 2015 through a website to be publicly announced at a later date. An official announcement of the winning entry is scheduled for spring 2016.

The entry selected by the Tokyo 2020 Emblems Selection Committee will be forwarded to the Tokyo 2020 Executive Board for final approval. The winning entry will receive an official invitation to attend the opening ceremonies of both the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Games emblems should seek to symbolise the fact that the 2020 Games are being held in Tokyo and Japan, and elicit empathy with people across the world. The designs should endeavour to have widespread appeal before, during and long after the 2020 Games are over.

Tokyo 2020 would like all applicants to give full rein to their imagination and creativity, and incorporate one or more of the following key concepts into their design of new Games emblems: “The power of sport”, “Typifying Tokyo and/or Japan”, “World peace”, “Exerting the utmost efforts and striving to achieve a personal best,”, “Inclusivity”, “Innovation and Futuristic”, “Regeneration (ability to recover from the 2011 disaster).

 

Source

Tokyo 2020; TOCOG withdraws Olympic and Paralympic Games emblems

tokyo 2020 olympic paralympic emblem

Press release: [TOCOG]

1 September 2015 – Announcement regarding the Tokyo 2020 Games emblems

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games today decided to withdraw the current Games emblems. Further information regarding the new emblems will be announced as soon as it is available.

Source

 

Read more

Tokyo withdraws 2020 Olympics logo after plagiarism allegations [Dezeen]

 

Tokyo 2020; Olympic Stadium – Zaha Hadid Architects publishes report and presentation video

Zaha Hadid Architects welcomes a new bidding process for the New National Stadium in order to reduce costs and ensure value for money in terms of quality, durability and long-term sustainability. This video presentation and report outlines in detail the unique design for the New National Stadium which has been thoughtfully developed over two years to be the most compact and efficient stadium for this very special location in Tokyo.

Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and our Japanese partners, the New National Stadium contains all the knowledge and expertise gained from the team’s direct experience of other Olympic, World Cup and World Championship stadia. The substantial investment in time, effort and resources already made by the Government and people of Japan into the existing team over the past two years ensures the New National Stadium can be completed in time to welcome the world to Japan in 2019 ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and become a new home for sport for many future generations of Japan’s athletes, sportsmen and women.

 

More information: Zaha Hadid Architects

Tokyo 2020; Olympic stadium – analysis of what went wrong by Katō Hideki

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Image: Japan Sport

 

The Olympic Stadium and the Anatomy of Incompetence
by Katō Hideki

Prime Minister Abe Shinzō has finally pulled the plug on a controversial Olympic stadium plan that seemed to epitomize irresponsible government spending, but the uproar is far from over. Katō Hideki, a former Ministry of Finance official and a longtime critic of Japan’s bureaucratic and political culture, analyzes the roots and implications of the stadium fiasco.

 

Read full article

Tokyo 2020; New National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan Statement by Zaha Hadid Architects

New National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan Statement by Zaha Hadid Architects

Our teams in Japan and the UK feel it is necessary to set the record straight on the Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) design for the new National Stadium for Japan, which has been developed to the client’s brief and budget. It is also only right that the Japanese people are fully aware of the reasons for the reported budget increase and, with exactly five years to go until the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Games, the risks involved with delaying the design process and start of construction.

In 2012 ZHA was selected by a jury of architects and other experts in an international competition of 46 entries to design a new National Stadium for Japan, which would be ready to welcome the world to Japan for the Rugby World Cup 2019 and Tokyo 2020 Games. We were attracted to the competition by Japan’s vision for a new National Stadium that was designed with the flexibility to open with these two great events and go on to host national, international, local and community sport and cultural events for the next 50 to 100 years.

The design was developed by a joint venture of leading Japanese design offices led by Nikken Sekkei, with ZHA supervising the design development. The team dedicated thousands of hours to develop a design for a new National Stadium to the brief, requirements and budget of our client, the Japan Sport Council (JSC). At every stage over the two years of development, the design and budget estimates were approved by the JSC. ZHA worked proactively to reduce the estimated cost throughout.

For the first time in the construction of a public building in Japan, a two-stage tender process was used, in which contractors are appointed before being invited to submit cost estimates. As ZHA has considerable experience in this process we advised the JSC that working to an immovable completion deadline, against a backdrop of rocketing annual increases in the cost of building in Tokyo, and in the absence of any international competition, the early selection of a limited number of construction contractors would not lead to a commercially competitive process.

Our warning was not heeded that selecting contractors too early in a heated construction market and without sufficient competition would lead to an overly high estimate of the cost of construction.

ZHA also proposed to the JSC that, in this uncompetitive context, reductions to the client’s brief for the stadium, architectural specification and contractor costs would achieve a lower construction price. ZHA has always been prepared to work with the JSC to produce a lower cost design at any time. The budget and design was approved by the Government on 7th July and there was no subsequent request to design a lower cost stadium.

In response to the high costs quoted by the construction contractors, ZHA and all of the design team worked hard with the JSC to ensure the developing design was delivered to the brief and budget, coming up with many cost-saving initiatives including further changes to the design. We also provided objective guidance on the standard materials and building techniques required to build the Stadium. In our experience the best way to deliver high-quality and cost-effective projects is for the selected designers to work in collaboration with the construction contractor and client as a single team with a single aim. However, we were not permitted to work with the construction contractors, again increasing the risk of unnecessarily high cost estimates and delays in completion.

On 7th July a JSC report to the Stadium advisory committee, using figures provided by the appointed construction contractors, incorrectly claimed that the design was responsible for most of the increase in budget. ZHA was not informed in advance of this announcement and we immediately contested this incorrect claim with the JSC. Commentary of the report focused on the steel arches within the design. These arches are not complex and use standard bridge building technology to support the lightweight and strong polymer membrane roof to cover all spectator seats, in addition to supporting the high-specification lighting and services that will enable the Stadium to host many international competitions and events in the future.

The arched roof structure is as efficient as many other major stadia in Japan and the arches allow the roof to be constructed in parallel with the stadium seating bowl, saving crucial construction time in comparison to a roof supported from the seating bowl, which can only be built after the bowl has been completed. The design and engineering teams in Japan confirmed the arches supporting the roof should cost 23 billion yen (less than 10% of the approved budget).

The increase in estimated budget reported by the JSC is in fact due to the inflated costs of construction in Tokyo, a restricted and an uncompetitive approach to appointing construction contractors and a restriction on collaboration between the design team and appointed construction contractors, not the design.

The current building boom in Tokyo increasing construction demand, a limited labour supply and the yen’s significant drop in value greatly increasing the price of imported raw materials have all contributed to Tokyo’s construction costs growing dramatically since 2012/2013 when the new National Stadium project was first announced and Tokyo was awarded the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Between July 2013 and July 2015, Tokyo construction costs increased by an average of 25% and are forecast to increase at a similar rate for the next four years.

Starting the design process again does not tackle any of the fundamental issues that have led to an increased estimate in budget for the National Stadium, which could in fact become even more problematic due to the significant further delay in starting building. Construction costs will continue to rise towards the immovable deadline of the Tokyo 2020 Games Opening Ceremony in exactly five years.

In addition to increasing design and construction costs, due to the rising cost of building in Tokyo, further delays and a rushed design process, led by a construction contractor, risk producing a lower standard National Stadium with limited future usage. Other examples around the world show us that a lower quality stadium could require substantial further investment to be converted for long-term use after 2020, when construction costs will be even higher.

The public, Government and design team have invested in a design that can be delivered through a more competitive procurement process and collaborative approach from construction contractors, within the budget now proposed by the Government and in time to host the Rugby 2019 World Cup.

We have always been, and still are, prepared to use the expertise and knowledge that has been developed to work with the JSC to produce a lower cost design to a change in specification.

Ten days after receiving formal approval of the design, ZHA learned through news reports of the cancellation of the commitment to deliver the approved design for the new National Stadium and commitment for the venue to be ready in time to host the Rugby World Cup 2019. Subsequently we received a brief official notification from the Japan Sport Council (JSC) of their cancellation of the contract to design the New National Stadium in Tokyo.

ZHA remain committed to a flexible and cost-effective new National Stadium that would be ready to welcome the world to Japan for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and become a new home for sport in Japan for many generations to come. The Japanese people, Government and design teams in Japan and the UK have invested a huge amount of time, effort and resources to deliver an adaptable design that can meet the brief and budget set by the Government for a new National Stadium.

To reduce the risk of further increases in costs, the venue not being ready in time for the Tokyo 2020 Games and being of lower quality, the Prime Minister’s review should build on the investment in the detailed design knowledge already established and focus on the need for construction contractors to work in partnership with this expert team.

We have written to the Prime Minister to offer our services to support his review of the project with the current design team. ZHA has also outlined how making use of the significant investment in detailed design work already carried out offers the most cost-effective solution to create the best new National Stadium for the people of Japan for the next 50-100 years.

In the coming weeks we also plan to share, in Japan and across the international design community, the many innovative solutions achieved through the years of work and investment that has gone into the design for the National Stadium.

END

 

Source: www.zaha-hadid.com

Tokyo 2020; Japanese government scraps 2020 Olympic stadium design

Japan’s prime minister, Shinzō Abe, says plans for the 2020 Olympics stadium will be scrapped and a new plan will be developed from scratch. The stadium, designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, drew criticism after the estimated building costs rose to 252bn yen [£1.3bn] last year. [The Guardian]

 

Read more: Japan scraps Zaha Hadid plan for Olympic stadium [The Guardian]