Zhanjiang Olympic Center Stadium – stadium description

Looking at this impressive sports and leisure complex spanning across over 56 hectares it’s hard to imagine that just 6 years before opening it was a fishery farmland. In 2009 reclamation of the site along east side of the Zhanjiang Harbor Channel began. By 2011 actual construction works were launched on what was then barely inhabited side of the channel.

The entire waterfront was set aside for sports while residential areas began booming around. Altogether over 66 hectares were left to accommodate a 40,000-capacity stadium, indoor arena (6,300 seats), natatorium (2,000) and gymnasium (1,000). Since the buildings were granted a landmark location visible to over 1 million inhabitants on the west bank, their form had to be eye-catching.

Design work was carried out by the famous Shanghai-based CCDI Group and used two symbolic references.  First is the form resembling sea shells scattered on the beach. Impression is clear when viewed from afar and in aerial view.

Another reference, particularly within the stadium itself, is a ribbon. This one, dominant from pedestrian perspective, makes the stadium seem like a waving ribbon – whitish and elegant by day, while bright and dynamic by night. This dynamism seems almost natural with high winds that posed quite some challenges during construction of the stadium.

Its stands are, one might say, typically Chinese, seeing the focus on athletics and a classic bowl of double tiers (east and west sides) and one single tier on both ends. The venue comprises 4 floors of training, maintenance and office infrastructure and it’s basically the steel outer shell that makes it stand out among other stadia.

Rising to 54 meters at peak, this diamond-shaped cover is expanded to the north, making transition between main stadium and smaller venues of the complex seamless. All buildings consumed over 184,000 square meters of the complex, surrounded by plazas, green areas and even a new public beach.

Priced at CNY 2.25 billion ($340m), the entire scheme was built primarily to hold the 14th Provincial Games of Guangdong, but soon after the summer event in 2015 preparations began to host large exhibition event.