The demolition of Jingu No. 2 Baseball Stadium has begun, and the large-scale redevelopment of the Meiji Jingu Gaien district, which took 13 years, began in earnest.
On the 22nd, in the Meiji Jingu Gaien district of Tokyo, the demolition work of the Jingu No. The Gaien district has been protected as a scenic district in the center of Tokyo for nearly 100 years, but with the Tokyo Olympics as an opportunity, the Tokyo metropolitan government relaxed its construction regulations. With this redevelopment, even more skyscrapers will be lined up, and the historical landscape will change significantly. (Tomoyuki Morimoto)
◆ 743 trees were cut down Construction of 190-meter office buildings, etc.
There are four redevelopment companies, including Mitsui Fudosan and Meiji Jingu. With the aim of turning the Gaien district into a world-class sports cluster, the dilapidated Jingu Stadium and Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium sites will be replaced and rebuilt. At that time, multiple high-rise buildings such as 190-meter and 185-meter office buildings will also be built. Completed in 2036.
In the process of administrative procedures for the start of redevelopment, Professor Mikiko Ishikawa of the Research and Development Organization of Chuo University pointed out that close to 1,000 trees could be felled, and a large number of trees fell to the surface. The operator has reduced its forecast for logging by 20% from the original 892 trees, but it now stands at 743 trees.
Concerns persist that the growth of the ginkgo trees, the symbol of the outer garden, will be hindered, and the Tokyo Environmental Impact Assessment Council’s debate over the impact of redevelopment on the natural environment has been protracted. The start of the project was later than originally planned.
Residents in the area filed a lawsuit against the metropolitan government in February, demanding that the redevelopment approval be revoked. More than 122,000 people have signed a web petition to review the redevelopment.
◆The Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which is supposed to protect the “scenic beauty”, relaxed the “15 meters in height” regulation on the occasion of the Olympics.
Demolition work has begun, Meiji Jingu Second Stadium surrounded by fences
Redevelopment of the Meiji Jingu Gaien district began in 2013, when Tokyo was selected as the host city for the Olympics.
In the Gaien area, buildings over 15 meters in height were restricted by the city’s scenic district ordinance, but in order to rebuild the National Stadium as the main venue for the Olympics, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government suddenly relaxed the height to 75 meters this year. Although the capital was in a position to protect the scenic beauty, it lifted the ban on itself.
Benefiting from this deregulation, skyscrapers and hotels housing the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) and the Japan Sports Association were built before the Tokyo Olympics. The Toei Kasumigaoka Apartments were demolished in a series of redevelopment projects, and there was a movement against them.
Meiji Jingu Stadium No. 2, where full-scale demolition work has begun, seen from the headquarters helicopter “Otsuru”
In 2010, the building restrictions on height and use were further relaxed. The redevelopment, which will take place after the Olympics, is in the second stage. Including the first phase, 10 buildings have been made possible by deregulation.
The National Stadium was criticized as “too huge” by Zaha Hadid, but was withdrawn due to soaring construction costs. The height was reduced to 47 meters, saying that it was the most particular. However, all nine buildings except for the National Stadium exceed that height.