package 'from the future' documents tokyo's floating 2020 olympic stadium

florian busch architects has shared the contents of a mysterious package it says was delivered ‘from the future’… the firm tells us that a black box was sent anonymously to its tokyo studio, containing a selection of magazines, models, and polaroid photos. the ephemera, apparently sent from the year 2020, documents the prospective timeline of japan’s olympic stadium — a structure that was originally to be designed by zaha hadid before her plans for the project were thrown out by the japanese government.

it was later announced that kengo kuma would be responsible for designing the controversial venue, with construction now well underway. despite a myriad of setbacks, the project remains on track to complete in time for the 2020 olympic games. however, the material supposedly received by florian busch architects tells a different story. according to the assortment of newspaper cuttings and magazine articles, kuma’s plans were also scrapped with a public park occupying the site previously earmarked for the 68,000-seat arena.

instead, a floating stadium was built — capable of relocating to meet the needs of different events. occupying a body water beneath tokyo’s rainbow bridge, the majority of the stadium is underwater — rectifying the original design’s height problems. winning praise for its flexibility, both local and national authorities planned to send the stadium on a world tour after the olympics, before handing the buoyant structure over to los angeles for the next games in 2024.

challenging the financially draining process of applying for and hosting the olympics, the scheme was also seen as an antidote to fading interest in the games. two days after the 2020 closing ceremony, during which the stadium weighed anchor, voices around the world started a heated debate over the stadium’s future. tokyo insisted on sending it off as planned, while several cities — who saw their own chances to become future hosts diminished by a floating stadium — called for a delay until another solution was found.

suddenly, on a particularly foggy morning, the stadium disappeared and was later declaring missing. two theories on the venue’s whereabouts quickly emerged: one claimed that it had been stolen by a collective of envious cities, while another posited that, as a precautionary measure, japanese officials had sealed the stadium before tying it to the bottom of the sea until all disputes were settled.

‘the text was not addressed to anyone, and yet the original content (hand-marked photographs, news clippings, models) suggests that the package was not distributed in bulk to many others,’ says florian busch architects. ‘perhaps, then, it was only to disseminate the relieving insights in our not so distant future: much simpler and saner than what we are forced to believe today.’