Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, Japan
November, 2019
Stadium
Total floor area 194,000 m2

This large stadium was designed as a collection of small-diameter pieces of wood.
The facade consists of overlapping, multi-layered eaves.

The underside of each eave is covered with small-diameter wood louvers in an effort to express the tradition of beautiful eaves in Japanese architecture in an appropriate contemporary manner.

Square cedar lumber measuring 105mm, the most common size in Japan, was split into three 50mm pieces, to create these louvers. The frequency and density of the louvers was varied in order to give a human-scale to the eave.

The roof has a truss structure which combines steel beams and laminated lumber with a medium cross-section, utilizing the axial stiffness of wood to minimize deformation of the roof trusses due to wind or earthquakes.