2020 Tokyo Olympic Stadium Controversy
Key groups involved: Zaha Hadid with Zaha Hadid Architects, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe (announced cancellation), the Japanese government/olympic planning committee, and the Japanese people.
Major speakers on Japan's side: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Richard Rogers, a member of the jury that selected Hadid's design, the governor of Tokyo Yoichi Masuzoe, Japanese architects including Tadao Ano
Major speakers on the Architect's side: Zaha Hadid (lead architect), project director at Zaha Hadid Architects Jim Heverin
Jeff Kingston (an Asian studies professor at Tokyo's Temple University) is mentioned in a few of my sources as an advocate for retrofitting the existing stadium from the 1964 Olympics. He seems to be in the middle of the two sides.
They make their speech acts through public statements and Hadid was interviewed directly through the architecture design magazine Dezeen.
The Prime minister Shinzo Abe and architect Tadao Ano spoke through a televised press conference.
Kingston spoke through an interview with CNN
The Japanese government is responsible for ditching the stadium design that they selected for Tokyo's 2020 olympics as well as the Rugby Word Cup in 2019. They were upset by the budget doubling to around $2 billion. Also, the Japanese people were upset by both the price an the design of the stadium. Architects from Japan don't agree on the choice to have a "foreigner" design the new stadium.
Zaha Hadid Architects face a large scale embarrassment as Japan is delivering large scale disapproval from both the government and the people. Hadid has already made several changes to the design of the stadium , but she is still fighting to keep her design as starting fresh means that Japan will fall behind schedule for the olympic games.
Budget is doubling from the increasing cost of labor and materials in Japan, as well as Hadid's over-extravagant design .
Zaha Hadid Architects also believe that choosing a cheaper stadium option is not beneficial for Japan in the long run as the quality will be poorer. They are open to the idea of changing the design by removing two large arches in the roof.