“We must create a place that serves as a symbol of hope and provides a light for the future of mankind.” An internationalcompetition for the New National Stadium of Japan started with this quote by Japanese architect and jury chair, TadaoANDO, in summer 2012. The competition was to design what will become the main stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympicbid, and was open for the most innovative proposal for the next generation of stadia design from all over the world. Inancient times, the stadium was created by excavation of the earth to form a topography where people can gather. Today,the stadium has become more about the expression of modern technology, to make a sort of UFO or non site specific iconthat is inevitably exiled to the outskirts of the city due to the large scale of its intervention. Since Tokyo is aiming to createa stadium in the centre of Tokyo, a 'next generation' proposal has to be installed to create a place for people
DGT's proposal in response to this theme was to create a “KOFUN STADUM”, a manifestation of an earth-basedmonument in the centre of Tokyo. The KOFUN itself, being the largest constructed monument of ancient civilization inJapan, was to combine the Olympics as the world’s largest event of today, into one architecture. In addition, it wasimportant to connect to the origin of the place, the memorial construction of the Meiji Empire, and the Meijijingu-gaienforest of 100 years ago, which has lost its place and meaning after WWII. Therefore, the proposal should re-generate amemory of place, creating a forest to preserve the power of nature on this land
The stadium can be transformed according to the event it is hosting, whether it is The Olympics, field sports or concertevents, and features a retractable roof in order to use the facility in all weather conditions. A stadium consumes themajority of its energy during peak event time, therefore we propose to share this excess energy to the surrounding districtduring non-peak times. In addition, materials from the demolition of the existing stadium will become part of themountain. Rainwater will be collected and redistributed as a fine mist to benefit the forest and organic matter on the roof.This roof covering will firstly cool against the city heat, creating a porous wind route for natural air ventilation, but willalso enable a recycling exchange for the damaged field ground with the grass on the stadium roof. The idea of anenvironmental energy dynamic that can positively create sustainable transformation between natural environment andartificial innovation. The original form of the KOFUN were found to be dedicated to “death”, to cover darkness in ancienttimes, and today's stadium will instead be dedicated to openness, to “human triumph”, to celebrate in light.
A stadium of the next generation should combine past and future to create a place for people in the city, a place to betogether for events and where it manifests a sense of timelessness. A place for all.
