The new National Stadium was officially completed late November last year when the centerpiece for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics was handed over to its owner and operator -the Japan Sport Council. Created by architect Kengo Kuma’s office, construction giant Taisei Corp. and design firm Azusa Sekkei Co., the stadium was completed in 36 months at a cost of USD 1.4 billion (¥157 billion).

With the handover complete, the stadium is now called the National Stadium. Five storeys above ground level and two below, the project is the latest incarnation of Japanese sports’ spiritual home to be built in the neighborhood. It replaces the National Stadium that was used as the main venue for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, which in turn took the place of Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium. The latter served as a point of departure for students leaving for battlefronts during World War II.

Domestic lumber and abundant plants help the 47.4-meter-high woodland-themed stadium blend in with the surrounding greenery of Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu Gaien area. The forest of Jingu inherit the historic greenery spreading from the Inner Garden of Meiji Jingu Shrine to the Imperial Palace. To preserve the precious greenery of the area, the architect conceived the building as a ‘living tree’ rooted in the earth, one that will stand the test of time a 100 years from now.

The stadium, surrounded by the abundant greenery of the Outer Garden of Meiji Jingu Shrine, forms a green network spreading from the Inner Garden of Meiji Jingu Shrine to the Imperial Palace through the Shinjuku Imperial Gardens and the Akasaka Detached Palace. In addition, by utilizing features of the location where the Forest of the Outer Garden of Meiji Jingu Shrine and the Town of the urban area are in contact with each other, the Forest of the Earth will be developed in harmony with the surrounding greenery.

Comprising five levels above ground and two levels below, the design effectively places the track and field two floors below ground level. This sunken design, combined with the fact that the stadium is flat-roofed, means that the structure has a height of less than 50 meters. The spectators’ seats, with a capacity of up to 80,000 people, have been placed as compactly as possible. These design cues, combined with the building’s abundant use of timber, takes the edge off the brutal feel created by architecture of this nature.

Surrounded by a vertical cedar lattice, the eaves encircle the stadium and are stacked in multiple levels – up to five in some areas. On the top level, the largest set of eaves, referred to as the ‘Grand Eaves of the Wind’ have been designed to efficiently draw air into the arena all year round. The eaves, built from timber that has been sourced from all 47 prefectures of Japan, are arranged in the order of latitude, so that the northernmost tip is made from wood from Hokkaidō while the southernmost tip uses wood from Okinawa.

Lumber has been used on the inner side of the roof and the eaves where it is not likely to be exposed to the rain, which is the main cause for degradation. To increase durability, the lumber has also been treated with pressure injection processes for antiseptic and anti-termite measures. Domestic cross-laminated timber has also been used for the lockers in the athletes’ dressing rooms and for outdoor information boards and other independent boards requiring strength.

Kengo Kuma, who was lucky enough to personally experience the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, recalls the completion of the Tokaido Shinkansen and the Metropolitan Expressway (Shuto Kosoku Doro) for those Olympics. According to Kuma, concrete buildings were going up one after another, and to a child’s eyes they looked really impressive. So how should the spirit of 2020 be expressed?

Kuma is of the view that it should be the complete opposite of the 1964 image. With concrete towns becoming the norm, Kuma felt the need to bring back wood. The National Stadium does exactly this and more. It is truly a modern take on the traditional Japanese wooden building that at the same time pays attention to detail.