The Yoyogi National stadium was built during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. This is a building with over fifty years of history, yet you don’t get a feeling that the building is old. Why is that the case?

The focus of the structure is on the beautiful curves. As the structure was built in a time before computers were developed, all design calculations were done by hand, an art which modern day architects admire. A further challenge was that this building possessed the largest scale “hanging roof” design. This style was created on the belief that having fewer columns was better design. The roof is suspended by passing a 280 meter cable between two large support columns. This shape is similar to that of traditional roofs of Japanese shrines and temples.

In the architectural world there is a divide between the architect and structural designer. While many of the jobs are broken up between specialties, in this building both architecture and structure are combined into one. You can maybe say that the building encapsulates beauty in the same way that wearing no cosmetic products accentuates the true beauty of a person. You should also try walking around the outside of the building. In each spot you will notice the shape changes ever so slightly, but before you know it the building returns back into the first shape you saw. The building holds surprises like that of M.C. Escher’s paintings.