Arenas

Saitama Super Arena

Tokyo, Saitama, Japan

An arena? A stadium? No, wait, it’s a concert venue! In about 20 minutes, the Saitama Super Arena near Tokyo converts from an intimate concert venue to a full-fledged stadium. A high-tech concept called Moving Block, developed in an international design competition, moves 9,200 seats—along with restrooms, concessions and hallways—a distance of 231 ft. (70 m) to convert the arena to a stadium and back again.

The Japanese wanted a facility with the functional diversity and flexibility of the Swiss Army Knife.


Yoshihiko Tsuchiya, then Governor of Saitama Prefecture

Project Data