The 3,000-seat, multi-purpose venue has been designed to accommodate sporting events ranging from badminton and table tennis to basketball and volleyball.
A grand stair onto the main concourse of the new Miyi County Sports Center rests at the edge of the main public walk providing an entrance to the venues and casual, public seating in a zone of high pedestrian activity. Another major entry lies at the eastern linear park seeking to ensure activation of the green space, capture the interest of casual passersby and provide an alternate queuing area.
Straddling the eastern linear park which bifurcates the site and creates two zones of activity, the center maintains continuous connections through the elevated main concourse. It is through this armature that the sports retail program, all venues, the concessions and services are connected and ubiquitously accessible.
The seating is configured in a lower tier of open seating and an upper level of special suites for spectators and the media. Additionally, a restaurant featuring locally-sourced food is accessible from the main concourse and overlooks the playing court for an alternative dining experience.
In addition to the large, primary venue are two 200-seat tennis courts, two 200-seat badminton courts, two 200-seat table tennis courts and one combination, Olympic-regulation, diving and swimming venue with 250 seats. All courts are accessible from the upper main concourse level and spectators descend into the seating areas. The lower level connects all the courts and their associated changing and warm-up facilities to the building services and athlete-specific circulation to provide a separation between spectators and participants when necessary.
Unifying this collection of venues is a singular, undulating metal roof that encapsulates the program and defines the external boundaries of the building as it wraps down towards the ground plane. The roof geometry responds directly to the span requirements of the major venues, thereby representing in a sense, the structural diagram of the center.
Various thin-film photovoltaic technologies are being investigated as critical components of the broad roof surface along with strategies to collect and re-use rainwater and maximize controlled, natural daylight. A panelized, glazing system allows for selective control of glare and heat gain through the treatment of individual panes. Varying opacities and tones are assigned to the glazing panels in response to solar position and orientation in an effort to maintain maximum building performance as well as the individual performance of its athletes and users.
