Day 7 – Yoyogi National Gymnasium
“Yoyogi National Gymnasium (国立代々木競技場, Kokuritsu Yoyogi Kyōgi-jō?) is an arena in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, Japan which is famous for its suspension roof design. It was designed by Kenzo Tange and built between 1961 and 1964 to house swimming and diving events in the 1964 Summer Olympics. The design inspired Frei Otto’s arena designs for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The arena holds 13,291 people (9,079 stand seats, 4,124 arena seats and 88 “royal box” seats) and is now primarily used for ice hockey and basketball.”1
Visiting Kenzo Tange’s stadium is one of those pilgimages that every architect delights in. We all learned about this complex in our architectural history courses and, as with most great pieces of architecture, photography can’t do it justice. The massive yet elegant structure dominates the site beautifully with all the grace I had expected. Unfortunately the grounds were under construction, so I couldn’t get all around the building, but it was excellent nonetheless.
