The Kyoto Racecourse was first constructed in 1908 when modern horse races were held in Shimabara, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto. After moving to Kyotamba Town in 1925, the racecourse was constructed on the current Yoshijima Watashibajimacho site in Fushimi-ku. The rebuilding of the grandstands and renovation of all other facilities including the stables and racetrack are currently underway as part of a commemorative project to mark the course's 100th anniversary in 2025.

The project has been divided into three zones and Obayashi is in charge of the grandstand construction zone. The new grandstand at 35 meters will be the same height as the current Grand Swan stand that is earmarked for demolition in this project. However, the ceilings on each floor will be higher to create a spacious and open atmosphere. Shifting to cashless ticket purchases has facilitated a reduction in the size of the backyard. The newly transformed state-of-the-art horseracing facilities will offer more spacious customer areas and greater convenience.

The side of the new grandstand facing the track will feature powerful horizontal lines created by an interlayer truss structure with a 25-meter cantilevered frame. It will make for a magnificent landscape, together with the pond filling the inside of the course. The rear of the grandstand facing the paddock, where spectators can go to see the condition of the horses before the race, is a hybrid structure that combines natural wood and steel. It features large eaves fortified with horizontal braces and gracefully curved step-like green terraces.

The Kyoto Racecourse is located between the Uji River and the Katsura River. To ensure the effectiveness of measures to control water during the underground portion of the stand construction, water level surveys of groundwater under pressure (artesian groundwater) were conducted in advance over a period of roughly six months. As a result of those surveys, the water levels were higher than the data originally given would suggest, and that the water level was particularly influenced by the water level of the Uji River. That indicated a potential seasonal risk of heaving (when upward water pressure acts on the lower surface of the groundwater layer causing a rise in the excavation floor).

As a necessary measure, we grouted to make the solid firmer. Around 100 machines were brought onto the vast site to inject chemicals to solidify the ground. Reducing the construction time was one of the most important considerations, but the plan had to be changed to take all possible measures to prevent any heaving that might cause a major accident later on.

Various changes to the initial plans involving such aspects as materials, equipment, and construction methods have been made to help shorten the construction period. When building the foundation for the new stand, the racecourse parking lot was used to process and assemble rebars for the piles and pre-assemble foundation beam rebar units. Reinforcement inspections were also carried out on the parking lot before the assembled rebars were transported to the construction site for installation. By splitting the work into processes that had to be done on the construction site and those that could be done outside the site, work can be done at their own pace without being influenced by the progress of subsequent processes. This was just one way to reduce worker waiting time and not bring on-site work to a grinding halt.

In addition, the scaffolding used for the finishing work on the stand's large roof and eaves was changed from mobile partial scaffolding to full suspended scaffolding. This enabled many workers to work on different sections of the scaffold simultaneously, not only at various height levels but also across the same level. In another measure to reduce the construction period, the number of cranes was increased from the original 8 to 13 and they were retained longer than originally planned, in accordance with the site policy of using machinery to supplement human effort, which has its limits.

Multiple construction projects were proceeding simultaneously on the site. Therefore, ensuring efficient construction by redrawing work allocation plans on a daily basis in order to reduce any factors that might result in accidents or losses were needed.