All images © Zaha Hadid

This woman is on a roll. Fresh off the heels of her Galaxy Soho opening in Beijing and the Eli and Edith Broad Art Museum in Michigan, Zaha Hadid is now setting her sights on conquering Japan. The architect’s design for the Japan National Stadium has been selected by Tadao Ando and the Japan Sports Council as the winner of a large international competition to build the country’s grandest sports venue. Hadid beat out 10 other design giants including Populous and a number of award-winning Japanese firms that participated in the high-profile competition. With only 46 participants, entries were restricted only to practices that had won a Pritzker Prize, AIA gold medal, UIA gold medal, Praemium Imeriale, or RIBA gold medal. Participating firms also had to prove prior experience in designing a stadium with a 15,000 seat capacity of more. Not much of a challenge if you’re Zaha Hadid. Read more.

The new 80,000-seat arena will replace the existing Kasumigaoka National Stadium in Tokyo. It will host the 2019 Rugby World Cup and possibly the main games of the 2020 Olympics if Japan’s bid is selected. If the latter is the case, the stadium will be Hadid’s second Olympic building and yet another record breaker for the famed designer.

by Molly Cotter

posted in Uncategorized

tagged 2020 Tokyo, awards, Competition, japan, Japan National Stadium, olympics, sports, stadium, tadao ando, zaha hadid

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