Ontology of Construction: On Nihilism of Technology in Theories of Modern Architecture

Abstract

The widely reported controversial development of Tokyo 2020 Olympics stadium is a good example of discrepancy among the four critical areas in architecture identified by Horayangkura (2016), namely form, function, economy and technology that eventually failed to bring architectural design to life. The original design won by the award winning architect Zaha Hadid in 2012 was scaled back and eventually replaced by the more budget friendly version by the equally prestigious architect Kengo Kuma. Reasons given by Japan government as the project owner were the inevitably escalating cost to build the exceptional design using the unconventional construction technology.