“We have decided to go back to the start on the Tokyo Olympics-Paralympics stadium plan, and start over from zero,” Japan’s prime minister, Shinzō Abe
Japan’s prime minister, Shinzō Abe told reporters after a meeting at his office with Yoshiro Mori, chairman of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee that controversial plans for the country’s new national stadium have been dropped. The Japanese government has come under stressful criticism from a host of japanese architects as estimated costs rose to 252bn yen ($2bn USD, £1.3bn).
The original competition entry by Zaha Hadid
“I have been listening to the voices of the people for about a month now, thinking about the possibility of a review,” Abe said.
Hadid, the Iraqi-British starchitect, won the design contest for the Tokyo stadium in 2012, but faced a barrage of criticism over its appearance and cost.
As reported by the guardian, Abe said he had obtained the consent of Mori, a former prime minister, and instructed the sports and Olympics ministers to start preparing immediately a process to choose a new plan.
World rugby’s governing body hit out at the decision and said it would seek urgent clarification of plans for the 2019 World Cup.