Beijing Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center Olympics 2008

A stadium resembling a television set: With this project, Burckhardt+Partner Zürich won the competition for the „Beijing Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center“ for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

In a park measuring 0.7 by 0.7 kilometers, ten sports facilities will be built. One of the most spectacular is the basketball hall with 18,000 seats in a 70-meter tall cube with a footprint measuring 130 by 130 meters. The ceiling covering the stadium is suspended from above by twelve steel structures resembling basketball baskets. Above this are commercial and conference levels covering a surface area of 65,000 square meters.

The outer walls are designed as huge liquid crystal display screens. They allow hundreds of thousands of spectators to follow the events inside the stadium from outside. The architecture is ahead of the current state of the art of audiovisual technology, but by the time construction of the stadium starts, developments for such oversize displays are expected to have matured. The project will be the world’s biggest TV set. This, too, won the hearts of the Beijing team of experts.

Overall Concept

The Green (for the people) Olympics: The people enjoy and "eat" the park. The High-tech Olympics: Giant façade-screens as Olympic multimedia attractor. The People's Olympics: The crater arenas invite "the people" to take part in the Olympics.

Planning Concept

The Crater grid system is a diagram designed to maximize the site's option for flexible development, unifying the site, and creating an open horizontal perception. Some of the crater spaces will be left unassigned of program. Over the years, functions will be assigned to insure an accurate cover of future necessities. The recreational and cultural activities will be programmed to enhance the site's leisure domain while commercial activities will be assigned when necessary to respond to society's demands and maintain a mixed use dynamic development, respecting a permanent and unchangeable minimum of 30% of Green space.

Environmental Protection Considerations

The Crater grid system helps to maintain open perception of the site. A high settlement pattern has been avoided. The built volumes remain discreet surrounded by the slopes of greenery.

Architectural Concept

The functional and structural conception of the Multipurpose Sports Hall is based on the idea of having a mixed use inter-linked complex in order to enhance its use during different times of the day or year. The complex is divided fundamentally in two spaces:

Up: The ancillary business and entertainment facilities
Down: The Multipurpose Stadium