Haixia Olympic Center Stadium – stadium description

It’s one of a kind in the sense that once viewed from satellite it resembles a sportsman joyfully crossing the finish line. Main indoor arena is the head (12,980 seats), hands are constituted by large natatorium (3,978) and tennis hall (3,152). The legs – of course the main stadium with outer shell divided into two halves. Torso with the ribbon are a very interesting combination of ramps and plazas with training, commercial and education facilities hidden underneath.

Such impressive sports complex, occupying massive 73 hectares, was created in Fuzhou, a city barely recognizable internationally. And not for an international event, too. It was built for the 1st National Youth Games of China, tournament for thousands of athletes aged 14-21. The whole scheme may seem even more impressive once taken into account that in 2011 this part of Nantai island was covered with farmlands.

The project worth roughly CNY 3 billion ($455 million) has a building blueprint of 390,000 square meters, of which of course the main stadium covers more than any other venue (61,577 square meters).

The central stadium can hold almost 60,000 people and still has some space for expansion left if ever needed. Both ends were left partially open not only to create the impression of ‘legs’ from space, but rather to make it a friendly and open facility. Just as the city’s motto: “be tolerant to diversity, tolerance is a virtue”.

Despite rising to almost 53 meters, the stadium is visually very light, almost floating thanks to the rhythmic waves on its outer cladding. Facades add to the impression further by using mesh instead of opaque skin. This of course doesn’t impede displaying dynamic images throughout the outer shell at night.

Underneath the steel roof structure are almost 120,000 square meters of floor space, enough to accommodate world class facilities for football and athletics. Construction of this giant stadium was launched in 2011 and due to end in 2014, but delays caused handover procedures to take place in the summer of 2015. Still, enough time to successfully hold the National Youth Games.