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JSC begins talks on new 2020 Olympics stadium design bids, logo selection process restarts

Xinhua, December 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Japan Sport Council (JSC) on Tuesday began three days of deliberations with experts including the Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) and athletes who will provide their input on two designs proposals that have been shortlisted to be the main stadium for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo.

The original design by London-based architect Zaha Hadid was ditched in an embarrassing fiasco that saw the government commit to a project it could ill-afford, sparking a huge public backlash as the stadiums's initially estimated 130 billion yen price tag (1.07 billion U.S. dollars) ballooned almost twofold.

The two current rival proposals have been submitted by two bidders, who, as yet, have remained officially unnamed, with both designs boasting environmentally-conscious wooden columns and roofing fixtures, in a bid to blend with the city's natural surroundings, with one of the stadiums being partly build underground to further merge the structure with the surrounding environment. Both designs for the main stadium see their exterior facades heavily fused with trees and greenery for the same reason.

Both proposals come in at less than 150 billion yen with construction slated to begin by the end of November 2019. The country's sports promoting body will be in charge of building the new stadium and the two renderings were posted on its website on Monday.

The experts comprising the deliberations that kicked off Tuesday comprise representatives of the JOC and four other organizations that will use the stadium, as well as Olympic hammer-throw champion Koji Murofushi, former national soccer team head coach Takeshi Okada, and former national rugby team head coach Seiji Hirao.

The Japan Sport Council's screening committee will settle on one of the designs based on feedback from the stakeholders and sports experts, as well as input from the public who will be able to post their opinions on the designs online.

Local media reported Tuesday that while the bidders' names have not been official revealed, they do in fact involve two joint ventures, one of which is a consortium made up of companies including construction behemoth Taisei Corp., and the other comprising an amalgamation of Takenaka Corp., Shimizu Corp. and Obayashi Corp.--also big players in the construction industry here.

The organizers of the Games on Tuesday also began screening more than 10,000 entries for the Games' logos, following the previous logos being pulled in September after a plagiarism scandal.

The designs have been sent in by the public and 27 judges comprising members of a panel within the committee as well as outsourced designers began the process today of shortlisting potential designs for the logos.

From 10,600 entries, the designs will be whittled down to around 1,000 during a three-day reviewing process, with three or four final designs expected to be announced as a final shortlist in January next year, with the winner being announced two or three months thereafter. Endit