The winning design was submitted by London-based Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, after a worldwide competition that eventually attracted 49 submissions. The criteria was strict - apart from the 80,000 capacity, retractable roof and adjustable seating it also had to be environmentally efficient, complement the surrounding landscape, allow for smooth traffic and be ready for 2019. Hadid was the architect of the London Aquatic centre used at the recent Olympics, a focal point of the 2012 Games.
"We hope that the new stadium will become a tourist attraction in its own right," says 2019 Rugby World Cup Organising Committee CEO Koji Tokumasu. "It should be a spectacular structure and is a superb location with five metro stations within five minutes' walk."
It is ambitious undertaking and there are already some concerns about the budget, especially as the cost of the Hadid-designed Aquatic centre in London blew out from an original estimate of £72 million ($141 million) to £270 million.
Still, the Japanese approach differs markedly from New Zealand's stop-gap, half-measure approach for 2011 in partially renovating Eden Park.
"The National Stadium was built in 1958 so we had to update it," says Tokumasu, "you have to progress otherwise you will never get future FIFA World Cups or other big worldwide events. The most important thing in today's economy is to not spend too much money that will not last after the World Cup. If you make a stadium with extra seats and it stays forever, that will be good. But if it is just temporary that is no good."
Construction of the new stadium, which will also host the 2020 Olympics if Japan's bid is successful, is expected to be completed by 2018.
