Who will design Japan's new National Stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics remains up for debate. But seats from the old arena—designed by architect Mitsuo Katayama in 1958 and a host site for the 1964 games—are up for grabs following its demolition earlier this year. That’s thanks to Japanese furniture maker Karimoku, which salvaged nearly 700 of the 54,000 stadium-style chairs and commissioned three Japanese designers to rethink them as interior furniture. The resulting limited-edition collection of stools, chairs, and benches features the blue-colored seats on minimalist wood frames in ash, beech, and white oak.
The pieces are just the latest example of building materials, furniture, and other memorabilia reclaimed and sold in an effort to memorialize stadiums slated for demolition or even a serious overhaul. The Miami Dolphins are selling off stadium seating removed during recent renovations to the Sun Life Stadium, while last year more than 10,000 seats from the Metrodome in Minneapolis were sold to eager fans who wanted a piece of the arena, which has been demolished to make way for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium on site. And one San Francisco studio is known for finding wood reclaimed from the Bay Area's old buildings—including the original Kezar Stadium, which was demolished in 1989—and giving it a second life.
Here's a look at Karimoku's collection:
Tokyo Stool, by Drill Design
Pony Chair, by Hiroko Shiratori
Kokuritsu Bench, by Gen Suzuki
[h/t Curbed + Spoon&Tamago]
