Does Zaha Hadid’s Tokyo Olympic Stadium have a design flaw?

Despite her extensive experience and established portfolio, household name and architect Zaha Hadid can’t seem to escape from scrutiny by fellow architects or even the public.

After criticism for her r esponse to the deaths of migrant workers working on the stadium she designed for Qatar 2022, and then the rally of Japanese architects opposing the size of her design for the 2020 Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Hadid was recently called-out by Japanese architect Takashi Moriyama for choosing a flammable material for the retractable canopy.

In an interview with the Japan Times, Moriyama said that “When you try to put your ideas into action, you have to make some compromise in design; it’s inevitable. Zaha would never compromise…so the panel members should have examined if her design was really feasible, but they never did.”

Japan New National Stadium from Zaha Hadid Architects on Vimeo.

Japan Times reports that the stadium is currently designed to accommodate 80,000 spectators. The design was approved in late May by a panel of experts set up by the Japan sport Council.

For more information, read the full article at Japan Times.

Earlier this month, my colleague and I presented a session to a group of civil engineers and transportation agencies about the tech trends in the AEC space. Along with advice on how to prepare your plan for controlled collaboration, we also talked through some practical use cases. One such use case was especially interesting, as it outlined a challenge not unfamiliar to government agencies who are contemplating the leap from paper to digital processes: how to securely migrate workflows.

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