Hangzhou International Sports Centre, ZHA China Design Contest, Modern Chinese football stadium architecture

Hangzhou International Sports Centre, China Building

15 June 2023

Design: Zaha Hadid Architects

Location: Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, East China

60,000-seat football stadium and practice pitches designed by ZHA

Hangzhou International Sports Centre China

Renders by BrickVisual

International Sports Centre, Hangzhou, China

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) has won the competition to design the new Hangzhou International Sports Centre.

Hangzhou International Sports Centre China

Incorporating a 60,000-seat football stadium and practice pitches, the Hangzhou International Sports Centre’s design also includes a 19,000-seat indoor arena as well as an aquatics centre with two 50-metre pools. Located within Hangzhou’s Future Science and Technology Cultural District, the sports centre establishes a new riverfront park and public plazas with direct access to Lines 3 and 5 of the city’s expanding metro network.

Hangzhou International Sports Centre China

One of the world’s leading centres of e-commerce, Hangzhou is home to many of China’s largest technology companies which attract IT professionals and entrepreneurs from across the country to live and work in the city.

Hangzhou International Sports Centre China

Accommodating Hangzhou’s growing population, the International Sports Centre’s design provides a variety of facilities for grassroots players to professional athletes. The compact design of each venue, together with their orientation and composition, allows almost half of the site to be transformed into new public spaces for the city. Integral to the district’s urban plan and the natural landscapes along the riverbank, the centre incorporates new parks and gathering places for events, recreation and relaxation.

Hangzhou International Sports Centre

As the largest venue within the centre, the 135,000 sq.m football stadium is situated on the eastern side of the new park to face the city. Located to the west and south of the stadium, the indoor arena and aquatics centre are connected to the stadium by the centre’s layered podium that weaves through the site.

Hangzhou International Sports Centre

Informed by the terracing of the tea farms on Hangzhou’s surrounding hillsides, the striated 45,000 sq.m podium houses the sports centre’s ancillary facilities that are shared between the venues including training and fitness halls, locker rooms, offices as well as shops, restaurants and cafes overlooking the podium’s courtyard and terraces.

Unlike the solid façades of most stadiums, the façade of the Hangzhou International Sports Centre’ stadium is open to the exterior with louvres sheltering terraces that host a variety of food and beverage outlets offering panoramic views across the city.

Designed to FIFA standards, the stadium’s seating bowl is configured to bring spectators as close as possible to the field of play and ensure excellent, unrestricted views from every seat; creating an intense matchday atmosphere for players on the pitch and fans seated throughout the stadium. These programmatic requirements define geometries that are expressed as undulations within the louvred façade.

Hangzhou International Sports Centre

The stadium’s louvred façade blurs the boundary between interior and exterior. The louvres’ materiality and detailing give the stadium a stratified, geological appearance of solidity when viewed from nearby. When viewed from a distance, the louvred façade becomes transparent, connecting the public spaces beneath the stadium’s seating bowl with the city.

Continued With a capacity of 19,000 seats, the 74,000 sq.m indoor arena can operate independently to the stadium and is designed with maximum operational flexibility to host many of China’s most popular spectator sports such as basketball in addition to large music and cultural events.

Situated on the western edge of the park, the 15,000 sq.m aquatics centre incorporates two 50-metre pools suitable for competitions, training and teaching at all levels from beginner to elite swimmers and divers. Accommodating district-level competitive events with up to 800 spectators, the pools can also host local schools for lessons, ensuring many thousands of children each week will learn the essential life skill of swimming.

Located within the warm temperate climate of Hangzhou, the International Sports Centre has been designed to the highest 3-Star rating of China’s Green Building Program with each venue providing optimal conditions using natural hybrid ventilation most of the year. Annual solar irradiation analysis has determined the composition of the façade’s external louvres while photovoltaics will harvest solar power for all venues. Ground heat exchange and recovery systems will ensure the most efficient operations of all facilities.

The centre’s landscaping establishes wetlands along the riverbank that are integral to the district’s drainage network. Collecting and channelling rain and grey water for filtration and re-use, this network uses aquatic flora and fauna native to the region to naturally remove contaminants.

To reduce the embodied carbon throughout the project, ZHA’s optimization processes minimise the amount of materials required for the structure and are integrated with local supply chains and procurement systems that have been developed to increase the recycled and recyclable content.

Hangzhou International Sports Centre China

In contrast to the single-use programming of most large stadiums that only welcome visitors on match days and act as an obstruction to the city’s urban fabric when not in use, the many varied sporting, recreational and leisure facilities of Hangzhou International Sports Centre, in addition to its public plazas and riverfront park, ensure the centre will be a popular gathering place for its community throughout each day and evening.

Hangzhou International Sports Centre

International Sports Centre in Hangzhou, China – Building Information

Design: Zaha Hadid Architects – https://www.zaha-hadid.com/

Design: Patrik Schumacher
ZHA Project Director: Charles Walker, Nils Fischer
ZHA Project Associate: Jakub Klaska, Lei Zheng
ZHA Competition Team: Joshua Anderson, Daniel Boran, Chun-Yen Chen, Hung-Da Chien, Michael Forward, Matthew Gabe, Rupinder Gidar, Jinqi Huang, Charlie Harris, Ivan Hewitt, Han Hsun Hsieh, Sonia Magdziarz, Xin Swift, Chris Whiteside

Consultants:
Sports Consultant: Clive John Lewis
Lighting: Lichtvision Design Ltd.

Hangzhou International Sports Centre

Images: BrickVisual

Hangzhou International Sports Centre, China images / information received 251022 from Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA)

Location: Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China, eastern Asia

New Hangzhou Buildings

Hangzhou Buildings

Hangzhou Buildings Designs – recent selection:

Qianjiang Century City A-07 Plot
Design: Aedas
Qianjiang Century City A-07 Plot Hangzhou
photo : Zhang Xi
Qianjiang Century City A-07 Plot, Hangzhou

Xitou Greentown · Cloud Land Business Center, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, East China
Design: WJ STUDIO
Cloud Land Business Center Hangzhou
photograph : Zhang Xi
Cloud Land Business Center, Hangzhou

Huaxia Center
Architecture: PH Alpha Design
Hangzhou Huaxia Center China
photo : LUOHAN Architechtural Photography
Hangzhou Huaxia Center

Yinno Unico
Design: MMC DESIGN
YINNO UNICO Boutique Store Hangzhou
space photographs : HAMO VISION / Ye Song
Yinno Unico Boutique Store

Architecture by Zaha Hadid Architects in China

Contemporary Zaha Hadid Architects Designs in China – recent selection on e-architect:

ZHA Future Cites exhibition Chengdu
ZHA Future Cites exhibition Chengdu, China
photo : Liang Xue
ZHA Future Cites exhibition Chengdu

Guangzhou Infinitus Plaza
Guangzhou Infinitus Plaza building design by Zaha Hadid Architects
photo : Liang Xue
Guangzhou Infinitus Plaza Building

Architecture in China

Contemporary Architecture in China

China Architecture Designs – chronological list

Chinese Architect Studios – Design Office Listings on e-architect

Chinese Architecture News

Shanghai Shipyard Masterplan, Lujiazui District, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
Architecture: Farrells
Shanghai Shipyard Masterplan Lujiazui District
photo © Terrence Zhang and Farrells
Shanghai Shipyard Masterplan

Comments / photos for the Hangzhou International Sports Centre, China designed by Zaha Hadid Architects page welcome