Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Games have officially opened on February 4, 2022. The Winter Olympics made a brave move by adding two snow zones in Zhangjiakou and Yanqing to the ice zone in Beijing, creating an unprecedented three-zone system for the Winter Olympics.
Architectural Design & Research Institute of Tsinghua University (THAD), has led the planning and architectural design of the whole and all venues in Zhangjiakou Zone and Shougang Venue in Beijing Zone. Planning and Venue design for Yanqing Zone was elaborated by the China Architectural Design & Research Group. Chinese architects took the initiative to create while serving the principle of sustainable development and closely integrating architectural planning methodologies and architectural design during the approximately six-year construction cycle. They proposed the design framework of "full-scale spatial intervention" based on the "General Plan, Regulatory Plan, Urban Design, Architecture Design and Equipment System Design," completing the Chinese practice of sustainable Winter Olympics.
Zhangjiakou Zone / THAD
Zhangjiakou Zone is located in Taizicheng and the adjacent area of Hebei Province's Chongli District, Zhangjiakou. It is planned to encompass an area of approximately 12.03 km² and be separated into three clusters: Genting Snow Park, Guyangshu Cluster, and Taizicheng Snow Town.
1. Guyangshu Cluster
The Guyangshu Cluster is the most densely packed collection of snow sports venues from the previous Winter Olympics. The general design is circular. The "Ice Ring" of the sky circle path connects the important buildings, which include National Ski Jumping Center, National Biathlon Center, and National Cross-Country Ski Center.
National Biathlon Center
National Biathlon Center. Biathlon is a combination of cross-country skiing and shooting. According to the standards of top events, the venues are designed with athletes in account, applying compact and independent streamlining. Sufficient and well-equipped auxiliary space is set aside to support athletes' demands throughout before, during and after the game. At the same time, it attempts to expand the coverage of the viewers' field of view. The technical building's architectural form is clean, simple, and generous. To enable function transformation after the game, the internal partition wall is equipped with a moveable and detachable light partition wall system.
National Ski Jumping Center
Due to the platform's cross section resembling the S-shaped curve of the ancient Chinese auspicious adornment "Ruyi," National Ski Jumping Center has been named “Snow Ruyi”. Different from previous platforms designs in China and worldwide. "Snow Ruyi" firstly provided the peak space in the athletes' departure area. Athletes may see distant remnants of the Ming Dynasty's Great Wall from the platform. A circular space is excavated in the solid space of “flying saucer” at the top, creating a 3900 m² ring field in the peak space. The stadium beneath the jumping platform can eventually be converted into a conventional stadium. Renewable materials and environmentally friendly engineering techniques will be utilized to the maximum extent possible during construction, and the surrounding mountain vegetation will be safeguarded and restored in advance.
National Cross-Country Ski Center
The National Cross-Country Ski Centre encompasses 106.55 hectares, with 5707 m² of permanent construction and 17400 m² of temporary facility space. Its primary function as a cross-country ski resort includes the construction of cross-country ski track, competition management center, and spectator stand, etc. The minimum intervention is the design principle of center, trying to reduce the scale of permanent buildings as far as possible, integrate the functions during the games, solve the needs during the Olympic Games by creating temporary facilities, restore the natural ecology after the games, and minimize the impact and damage to the environment. The off-road track integrates multiple tracks into one and maximize the exposure of most off-road tracks to the audience, so as to increase the spectacle of the race, which is unique in the design of the Olympic off-road track.
Sky Circle Path - "Ice Ring"
The sky circle path “Ice Ring” is based on the concept of “Olympic giant ring complex” proposed by the previous team from Switzerland, connecting key buildings. The sky circle path is divided into east and west half rings. The west half ring is erected from the ground, and the east half ring is a hiking trail. The elevated part of Ice Ring is the front yard area, which is used as the audience access, and the ground part is the backyard area, which is used as the working area for event operation support. This is the first time in the history of the Winter Olympic Games that the front and rear courtyards are distinguished by three-dimensional transportation, with an intensive land area of about 40000 m² . After the race, Ice Ring will be open to the public as a public leisure and fitness area.
Mountain Broadcast Centre & Tech Hotel
Mountain Broadcast Centre and Tech Hotel including two buildings A and B, which are supporting facilities of Guyangshu Cluster. The hotel complies with the natural mountains; the contours of each floor correspond to those of the surrounding terrain. The public space and studio viewpoint on the second and third floors of the Mountain Broadcast Centre are elevated via an overhead and long-span structure on the ground floor, forming a continuous open vision with "Snow Ruyi," "Ice Ring," and mountains serving as the TV studio's backdrop. At the same time, the design optimizes the user experience and the effect of live broadcasting by adjusting the angle of the studio windows, the refractive index and reflective coefficient of glass, and other parameters.
2. Genting Snow Park & Mountain News Centre
Genting Snow Park – the only one of seven snow competition venues that will be upgraded by reusing existing ski resorts – is planned to be located in a long, narrow valley. The total drop is 488 meters, including six tracks and the Zhangjiakou Mountain Information Center. Prefabricated temporary buildings are mainly used in the Park,以is dominated by container houses that can be loaded and unloaded flexibly, supplemented by tents and other structures.OSB veneers and dark temporary building frames were chosen for the exterior materials and colors, and the material reflectivity was reduced from over 70% to less than 50% to reduce the overall environmental brightness.
3. Taizicheng Snow Town
Taizicheng Snow Town Cluster's primary Winter Olympic facilities are three non-competition venues: the Olympic Village, the Medal Plaza, and the Uniform and Accreditation Center; the Cluster really doesn't have a competition venue. It provides comprehensive high-quality support services to athletes and VIPs visiting Zhangjiakou Zone, including catering, business, conference, culture, and accommodation. Taizicheng Snow Town's detailed planning scheme demonstrates an obvious Y-shape winding through the valley.
The Archaeological Park of Taizicheng Site in Chongli, Zhangjiakou
Taizicheng Archaeological Park was formerly known as Taihe Palace during the Jin Dynasty's Emperor Zhangzong Era in the 12th century. Zhangjiakou Zone intends to establish a 400m long and 350m wide Archaeological Park of Taizicheng Site in conjunction with the ruins of the Jin Dynasty's Royal Palace in Taizicheng Site. The Archaeological Park's general design maintains a counterpoint relationship between the Taizicheng Site and the surrounding landscape environment, emphasizes the Taizicheng Site's square-city structure and the city layout of the double city-walls, and emphasizes the architectural distribution relationship of significant courtyards along the north-south central axis and the central axis.
Zhangjiakou Olympic Village / Zhangjiakou Paralympic Village
Zhangjiakou Olympic Village and Zhangjiakou Paralympic Village is located in Taizicheng Snow Town and occupied 19.76 hectares. During the games, the Winter Olympic residential area will consist of 31 houses divided into ten clusters. The athletes' restaurant, clinic, anti-doping center, fitness center, religious center, leisure and entertainment center, resident center, head of delegation hall, NOC/NPC service center, and security command center are all located in the residential area.
Medal Plaza
Zhangjiakou Medal Plaza is located east of the high-speed railway station in Prince City Ice and Snow Town. It is approximately 2 hectares in size and has a capacity of 3,000 people. In contrast to the Summer Olympics, the Winter Olympics' awarding activities will be centralized and concentrated in the Medal Plaza, with cultural performances taking place prior to the awarding, creating a festive cultural atmosphere for the Winter Olympics.
Yanqing Zone / CADG
As one of the three major zones for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic Games, the core area of Yanqing Zone is located in the Haituo Mountain area south of Jundu Mountain of Yanshan Mountain and the valley area at the southern foot of Xiaohaituo in Yanqing District, Beijing. The core area of Yanqing Competition Zone is focused on the construction of two competition venues (National Alpine Skiing Center and National Sliding Center), two non-competition venues (Yanqing Winter Olympic Village and Yanqing Mountain Service Center), as well as a large amount of supporting infrastructure. It is the most challenging Winter Olympic zone.
National Alpine Skiing Center
National Alpine Ski Center follows the concept of sustainability and adopts a single venue model and distributed layout. The venue is designed to be a comprehensive three-dimensional layout for snow sports involving multiple business areas, in order to cope with the complex mountain conditions, snow sports and the composite nature of Olympic events. Relying on the natural terrain characteristics of Xiaotaituo Mountain, the design uses "mountain rocks" as the theme of the track. To create a variety of different tracks that will establish a status among the world's alpine ski venues and provide athletes and audiences with an unforgettable race and watch experience.
National Sliding Center
National Sliding Center is located in the southern part of the core area of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Yanqing Zone. It is the first sliding track of track, which resembles a dragon winding from north to south along the ridge west of the competition area's entrance. The building site's terrain is complex, with a height difference of approximately 150m between the peak on the north side and the nadir on the south side, and an average natural slope of more than 16%.
Yanqing Olympic Village
Yanqing Olympic Village( Paralympic Village) is located in east of south area of Yanqing Zone. It is lies at the foot of Haituo Mountain on a naturally formed, relatively gentle alluvial terrace. The site is surrounded by mountains and forests, and the ruins of a village in the center add to the site's unique historical and humanistic characteristics except the site's diverse geological landscape and ecological environment. Apart from the site's diverse geological landscape and ecological environment, the ruins of a village in the center add to the site's unique historical and humanistic characteristics. The design is divided by security into residential area, Olympic Village Plaza area and operation area, and functionally consists of public clusters and 6 residential clusters, which are connected by the heated corridor.
Yanqing Mountain Service Center
Yanqing Mountain Service Center is located in south area of core area of Yanqing Zone. It is situated on a moderately gentle and narrow terrace in the center valley of the foot of Haituo Mountain. Yanqing Mountain Service Center adopts a semi-covered soil design. The northern part of the building is concealed under the mountainous landform. The southern end is exposed layer by layer. Highest compatibility with the natural terrain in order to establish an organic blend of building and natural landscape. Adopting the "live within its means" and "broaden sources of income and reduce expenditure" strategies to implement the demonstration project of ultra-low energy consumption and "near-zero carbon" structures of Yanqing Zone.
Xidazhuangke Village
Xidazhuangke Village is located southwest of the Yanqing Zone, adjacent to the National Sliding Center. It is restored, renovated, and upgraded to inject modern vitality into the mountain village while preserving and continuing the original pattern, texture, and appearance. All villagers are appropriately rehabilitated in the area, providing services for the Winter Olympics and transitioning to the ice and snow industry following the games. The project developed and implemented a concept for sustainable social development that integrates the transformation of existing mountain villages with large-scale events and post-competition services in the style of the Winter Olympics.
Infrastructure of Yanqing Zone
The various infrastructures scattered throughout the competition area are specifically selected to fully satisfy the process and to enhance publicness and landscape, so that their design reflects the "mountain and forest" characteristics and plays an active role among the " Mountain forest venues, Ecological Winter Olympics”.
Beijing Zone / THAD
Beijing Zone primarily hosts the ice sports events of the Winter Olympics, which take place in primarily indoor venues, the majority of which were reconstructed for the 2008 Summer Olympics. All ice rinks will attain "amphibious" capability to accommodate winter and summer sports through repair and upgrade of existing venues and facilities, taking into account the competition's and post-competition use requirements. The only new project is the Shougang Big Air.
Shougang Big Air
Shougang Big Air “flying apsaras” is the world’s first permanent venue for Big Air. It is also the first venue in Winter Olympic history to incorporate industrial heritage reuse directly. The sculptural design was inspired by the venue's profile curve reflecting the image of the Dunhuang "flying apsaras" ribbon. Additionally, the venue's steel structure architecture allows for the possibility of altering the racing profile for future competition. The sense of ribbon's color is created by two layers of color: white light from within the cavity enters via the hole and produces the highlight; external ambient light strikes the outer surface perforated plate, creating the base color.
Laiyuan National Ski Jumping Training and Research Base / THAD
Laiyuan National Ski Jumping Training and Research Base
The project located in the northern area of Qishan Ski Resort in Laiyuan of Baoding. It is exactly same wit National Ski Jumping Center and Shougang Big Air of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, providing the opportunity for athletes to better adapt to the race track. The track is consists of a chute and a landing slope that are used in both winter and summer, providing athletes with equivalent training conditions in all seasons. The wind tunnel laboratory is the world's largest and most advanced wind tunnel for ski jump training, capable of producing winds of up to 50 m/s and providing athletes with aerial flight attitude training.
