Zaha Hadid’s plans for curving sports stadium, intended to be the centrepiece for both the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2019 Rugby World Cup have been scrapped by the Japanese government citing escalating costs, which at £1.3billion are now double the initial estimate, The Guardian reports. Jim Heverin, project director at Zaha Hadid Architects has said that increased costs for the design, which has been likened to both a bike helmet and a turtle, were due to price rises in both materials and construction rather than as a result of the design itself.
A review will now be conducted to draw up new plans.
20 July 2015