Ordos Sports Center Stadium – stadium description

Construction of this major sports complex in Inner Mongolia’s city of Ordos was launched in March 2012. From the start it was supposed to be focused around the idea of a “golden saddle” as a tribute to the role of horses in Mongolian culture.

Beijing design giants worked on the development of this project to create vivid and strong aesthetics in which the saddle effect is reached by the roof outline of the main stadium. Bathed in gold, the massive columns decorate  all major venues: the main stadium (60,000), indoor arena (12,000) and natatorium (4,000). The entire project spans across nearly 340,000 square meters and was built at the price of 7 billion yuan ($1.1bn / €1bn).

The main stadium has nearly 113,000 square meters of floor space and dominates the landscape thanks to its 46 tall columns. Gold, black, grey and beige are considered natural colours, while red and several other more vivid colours break the order to represent vitality and spirit of the people.

Inside, the stands were divided into two large tiers. A mosaic of yellow and green seats is supposed to resemble a meadow in blossom. North end is opened towards the mountains and offers a large plaza accessible from a long ramp going far north.

Construction was initially expected to end by the end of 2014, but eventually took until mid-2015. Finishing touches were made in the summer, just before China’s 10th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities (Aug 9 – Sept 17).