Design
Tokyo Scraps Its Intergalactic Olympic Stadium
While Japan is bent on blaming the architect, Zaha Hadid, the dynamic at fault is global and corrupt.
On Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that Tokyo will not move forward with the stadium at the center of its plans for the 2020 Olympic Games. The $2 billion venue—a great cosmic bicycle helmet designed by Zaha Hadid—has become a locus for criticism over soaring costs attached to preparations for the Tokyo Games.
A starchitect’s stadium just went supernova. The implications for the world are larger even than the failed stadium.