Zaha Hadid Architects have responded to Japan’s decision to drop their Tokyo Olympic stadium design by releasing a film detailing the design process for the proposal.

Only last month, London-based Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) appeared to have final government approval for their Tokyo Olympic Stadium design, only to be dropped days later by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. The 20-minute video is a response to that decision and forms a bid by the firm to have its plans reinstated, described as “the only way to achieve value for money in the market”.



Amid speculation about rising costs and criticism from Japanese architects, the film explains the decisions made during the two-year-long design process that led to the current proposal and argues that starting again with a new design will not save the Japanese taxpayer any money, urging the government to reconsider its decision.

“The design should be seen as the only way to achieve value for money in the market,” ZHA state in the film.

Controversial from the start, the estimated cost of the Stadium rose to ¥252bn (US$2bn, €1.8bn, £1.3bn) last year and has seen opposition from many Japanese architects. These included Fumihiko Maki, Toyo Ito and Sou Fujimoto, who argued that it would be too big in relation to its surroundings, which include Kenzo Tange's iconic 1964 Olympic stadium.

ZHA maintain that the budget increases are due to a 25 per cent rise in costs across Tokyo's construction industry over the past two years, stating that it will be impossible to create an equivalent stadium for less money. In response to criticism from the country’s architects, the firm maintains that the building's shape helps to reduce its visual impact on the site, and that its curved roof will reference both Japanese landscape bridges and Tange's iconic stadium.

It also suggests its current design for the 80,000-seat stadium could be adapted to save money by omitting air conditioning for the seating, or by removing a bridge designed to offer the public views across the city skyline.

As things stand, the prime minister has instructed his sports and Olympics ministers to start the process to select a new stadium design immediately, with a cheaper price tag top of the agenda.