Designing the Future
Architect Kengo Kuma explains why his design for the main stadium at this summer’s Olympics is a departure.
The 10-year-old boy stood transfixed. Staring up at the dramatic, sweeping curves and dynamically suspended roof of the building before him, Kengo Kuma asked his father the name of the futuristic structure’s designer.
In the blink of a mesmerized eye, the boy who loved cats and dreamed of becoming a veterinarian imagined an entirely different life path.
“On that day, I decided to become an architect,” says Kuma, 65, sitting in the offices of his Tokyo architectural firm 55 years later. “I found a hero in Kenzo Tange.”
Tange was the visionary designer of Yoyogi National Gymnasium, where Kuma and his father had visited to watch the swimming during Tokyo’s 1964 Olympics.
The iconic building will once again welcome Olympic crowds when it hosts the handball games at this year’s Tokyo Olympiad, followed by the wheelchair rugby and badminton at the Paralympics.
Among the other 33 venues at the Olympics is Kuma’s own creation: the new, $1.4-billion National Stadium, the centerpiece of the Games. Completed last year, the 68,000-seat stadium will host track-and-field events, soccer matches and both the opening and closing ceremonies.
From the moment Kuma was approached by Taisei Corporation to partner with the construction giant to bid for the stadium project (the original winning design by the late British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid was scrapped amid spiraling costs and widespread criticism), he recognized the significant opportunity the project offered.
“From my own experience in 1964, I know that the influence of the Olympics on kids and society is huge,” he says.
Critical of some of Tokyo’s “concrete monuments” and the impersonal nature of many new structures, he says it was important that the stadium blended with its verdant surroundings in Meiji Jingu Gaien Park while serving as a nexus for everyday leisure, not just as a sports and concert venue.
“The [old National Stadium] was just a dark, concrete building in a dark forest,” he says of the main venue for the 1964 Olympics. “The new stadium is different from a normal, functional sports facility. Instead, it’s very warm and natural.”
Inspired by traditional Japanese building techniques, Kuma’s oval-
shaped design features three tiers of seats beneath a partially covered roof of steel and latticed wood, with an exterior of pagoda-like eaves. The stadium is also designed to funnel cool summer breezes into the stands while deflecting winter winds.
The Japanese cedarwood used in the stadium’s construction was sourced from each of the country’s 47 prefectures.
“I was so surprised to see the difference between them in color and grain,” Kuma says. “I wanted to show that kind of rich diversity of Japan to the world.”
Although an internationally celebrated architect in his own right, Kuma says he has been surprised by all the recent public attention. But he is also aware of the limelight’s benefits.
“By talking about the stadium, I’m talking about what kind of architecture we should have in the future,” he says. “My dream is for this stadium to change society after 2020.”
Words: Nick Jones
Image: Kayo Yamawaki
