The company whose Tokyo 2020 Olympic Stadium “bicycle helmet” design was scrapped in July, after its predicted cost nearly doubled to a record $2 billion, withdrew its revised stadium bid.
“Nikken Sekkei and Zaha Hadid Architects have not been able to secure a construction company in its consortium and therefore announce that they are unable to enter the competition,” it said in a press release Friday. “It is disappointing that the two years of work and investment in the existing design for a new National Stadium for Japan cannot be further developed to meet the new brief through the new design competition.”
Less than a month ago, Zaha Hadid Architects published a 23-minute video outlining its revised bid for a proposed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Stadium, emphasizing its “expressive but efficient design.”
“To start the design from scratch is an unnecessary risk, which we think the government should reconsider if its aim is to achieve a lower price than 252 billion yen (more than $2 billion),” a narrator said in the video. “We understand the need for the government to undertake a new process to get a better price, but it should not take an unnecessary risk on the design, and it will get more for the taxpayers’ money by retaining the current design.”
A competition for a new stadium design would be held within six months with plans to finish the stadium by spring 2020, according to the Wall Street Journal in July, which cited Japan’s sports minister.
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