zaha hadid’s winning design for the new national stadium japanrender © zaha hadid architects

it has been confirmed, zaha hadid has been selected to design the new national stadium japan in tokyo. her winning proposal has beat out ten other international teams including SANAA, populous, UNstudio and toyo ito (see the full listing of the shortlisted projects here). the elevated ground connections of zaha hadid’s structure will govern the flow of people through the site, while also effectively carving the geometric forms of the building, enhancing and modulating visitors around the studium fia different directions and points of access.

the competition invited international architects for their proposals to rebuild the ‘kasumigaoka national stadium’, which hosted the 1964 summer olympics. the stadium is scheduled for completion in 2018 so that it will be ready in time to host the 2019 rugby world cup, and if japan is selected to host the 2020 games, it will function as the primary site for the olympic and paralympic games. in addition, the new 80,000-seat national stadium will also be offered as a venue for the FIFA world cup, the IAAF world championships in athletics as well as host a wide range of cultural and artistic events.

the expected cost of the landmark project is estimated to be around 130 billion yen (1.62 billion USD).

aerial view within the context of the bustling metropolisimage by minmud

render © zaha hadid architects

rendering of the stadium interiorimage by minmud

the venue will have the capacity to accommodation 80,000 spectatorsimage by minmud

beyond sports events, the stadium is set to host a range of cultural and artistic eventsimage by minmud

elevated ground connections will govern the flow of people throughout the siterender © zaha hadid architects

the stadium within the night scenery of tokyoimage by minmud

project info:

project: new national stadiumlocation: tokyo, japandate: 2012 / 2019client: japan sports councilstatus: competition winning entrysize: 290,000 m2capacity: 80,000 peoplearchitect: zaha hadid architectsdesign: zaha hadid, patrik schumacherproject director: jim heverin, cristiano ceccatoproject architect: paulo floresdesign core team: rafael contreras, antonio monserrat, fernando poucell, irene guerra, junyi wang, karoly markostokyo support team: yoshi uchiyama, ben kikkawa