Practice beats out 45 firms to design National Stadium of Japan

Zaha Hadid Architects has won a competition to design the National Stadium of Japan in Tokyo.

The firm saw off competition from 45 other international architecture practices to win the job.

The judging panel included British architects Richard Rogers and Norman Foster.

Tadao Ando, the Japanese architect who chaired the judging panel, praised the fluidity and innovation of Hadid’s design. He said: “The entry’s dynamic and futuristic design embodies the messages Japan would like to convey to the rest of the world.”

Zaha Hadid, director of the winning practice, said: “Our three decades of research into Japanese architecture and urbanism is evident in our winning design and we greatly look forward to building the new National Stadium. The stadium will become an integral element of Tokyo’s urban fabric, directly engaging with the surrounding cityscape to connect and carve the elegant forms of the design.