Source: archdaily

Slated for completion in 2017, construction on the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) Sports Centre has begun. The complex, designed by gmp Architekten, will combine sports, leisure and cultural facilities along with generous retail and hotel areas all embedded in a generous public landscape. Read more about this addition to China’s Suzhou Industrial Park after the break.

From the architect: Suzhou is famous in China for its landscape design, and the master-plan for this new sports park is based on this tradition. In a modern interpretation of the city’s traditional gardens, an informally designed park landscape flows around the podiums that rise in straight lines from the surrounding streets and support the stadiums. The curved roofs of the stadiums give the impression of pavilions, marking the high points in this landscape. As visitors walk along the curved pathways, various vistas open up to water features, pavilion architecture, and the landscape. The site opens out to the Xietang River to the south, with various sports grounds embedded in the landscape.

The sports park – which has been developed jointly by the City and District authorities – includes a 45,000-seat stadium, an indoor pool with 3,000 seats, and a sports hall with 15,000 seats, and is surrounded by numerous residential quarters and a lively ambiance. With its wide range of functions, beyond pure sporting events, the park has been designed to ensure a permanent and sustainable flow of visitors.

– Eric Oh

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Read the full story on archdaily.