Description of project by Atelier Li Xinggang
The Gymnasium of New Campus of Tianjin University is located in the north of the front zone of the campus. The main buildings include an indoor sports center and a natatorium. The public spaces of these two buildings are linked by a large arch bridge which encloses an entrance plaza and connects the entire building.
According to the respective requirements towards the plan dimension, headroom, and usage (dedicated or multi-purpose), the multiple indoor sports fields are compactly organized and connected by the linear public spaces (the public hall, the arch bridge, and the lobby of swimming pool). This kind of design strategy largely not only enhances the openness and sports atmosphere of the interior spaces but also creates diverse eave heights and an efficient and easy-going layout.
The design mainly focuses on how to logically organize and repeat the basic unit of the form and structure to generate specific function, light environment, and atmosphere within each space. The public hall of the indoor sports center adopts ruled curve surface roof of a gradient wave-shape (hollow ribbed roof structure), with a 140-meter-long indoor overhead track, which forms a great light environment and infinite landscape. The exercisers who are running on the overhead track naturally become a part of the landscape, showing the sports spirit of the architecture.
The roof and the exterior walls of the sports space use a series of reinforced concrete structure of ruled curve surfaces, barrel arches and conical surfaces which provide long span space and high side window daylighting. The tectonic texture of the wooden mold concrete is exposed inside, and the architectural outline of silence and diversity is formed outside, achieving the perfect unity of the building's structure, space, and form.
Compared with the architectural image of the exaggerated and arbitrary through the decoration nowadays, this design exposes the structure to access the beauty of "tectonic", resulting in the space of silence, plain and rhythm, presenting more permanent "poetic" of space.
The Sports Complex is located in the northeast of Tianjin University Peiyang Park Campus, and adjacent to the young teachers' apartments and the administration building.
Li Xinggang, an student of Tianjin University directed the design of this building. The Sports Complex is one of Tianjin University Peiyang Park Campus landmarks. The Sports Complex, which covers an area of 66,945 square meters, is composed of three parts, the gymnasium, the swimming pool and the stadium. It combines all kinds of ball games, track and field, swimming and body building.
More information
Atelier Li Xinggang is a Beijing-based architectural studio founded in 2003 by the Chinese architect Li Xinggang. Li was born in March 1969 in Laoting County, within the administrative area of Tangshan, Hebei Province, China. He studied architecture at Tianjin University, where he graduated in 1991, and later earned a doctorate in engineering from the same university. He began his career at the China Architecture Design & Research Group, where he went on to hold senior positions, including deputy chief architect and later chief architect. Within this institution, he developed Atelier Li Xinggang as an autonomous, research-oriented design unit.
The studio’s work explores the relationship between architecture, landscape, structure and Chinese spatial tradition. Li is known as the lead Chinese architect of the Beijing National Stadium, the “Bird’s Nest”, as well as for projects such as the Jixi Museum and the Yanqing venues for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
His major distinctions include the Liang Sicheng Architecture Prize, the IOC/IAKS Architecture Prize Joint Gold Award, the World/Global Young Chinese Architects Award, the Gold/Silver Prize of the China National Outstanding Architecture Awards, and several National Outstanding Architecture Awards.
Published on:
November 21, 2017
Cite:
"Gymnasium of the New Campus of Tianjin University by Atelier Li Xinggang" METALOCUS.
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<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/gymnasium-new-campus-tianjin-university-atelier-li-xinggang>
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