Built for the Tokyo Summer Games in 1964, the complex consists of two indoor arenas connected by a central spine that also houses ancillary and office functions. Structural design was handled by Tsuboi Yoshikatsu and his associate Kawaguchi Mamoru, but Tange’s team participated extensively in a joint design process. The basic structure for both buildings relied on cable suspension technology developed for bridges, but as an architectural project, the challenge was to create interior enclosures under the span. The urban aspects of Yoyogi Stadiums deserve as much notice as the project’s obvious formal virtuosity. One of the last large undeveloped tracts in central Tokyo, the stadium area was conceived as part of a ring of major open spaces in the cities dense center. The site plan extends beyond the stadium site’s boundry in the northeast corner to include a traffic intersection, a signifigant urban intervention to bring together the dense fabric of upper Shibuya and new large-scale institutional facilities such as the local ward office, the headquarters of Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NKH), and the stadiums themselves. The two spiraling tails of the stadium site provide further linkage from the upper Shibuya area to Harajuku and Meiji Shrine.
jbbartram-illu
jacobvanloon
annaxmalina
theartofmadeline
turnnoffyourmind
discoholicmusic
