On February 8, after Gu Ailing of Team China won her first Olympic gold medal in Beijing 2022, Mark Andreessen, founder of Netscape Communications, posted a photo of Big Air Shougang on social media and said that this is a nuclear reactor.
However, the "nuclear reactor" has been praised by Chinese and foreign athletes as a "cyberpunk venue" and "like being in a virtual world or online game." The International Olympic Committee even pointed out that this is one of the greatest legacies left by the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Actually, those "nuclear reactors" are actually the cooling towers in Shougang Park, the original factory site of Shougang Group, a century-old steel enterprise in China. Besides the cooling towers, the Big Air Shougang is the first Winter Olympic competition venue built on an industrial heritage site marking a model of sustainable urban development.
Steel mills come back to life
In 2005, the government has been determined to optimize its control of the industrial pollution and upgrade the steel industry. For this, Shougang Group moved from Shijingshan to Caofeidian since 2005, the Shougang Park was once abandoned until Beijing and Zhangjiakou won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in 2015. Since then, a series of Winter Olympics projects began construction in the Park.
The plan of Shougang Park.
During the construction process, all architectures in Shougang Park that deemed safe have been preserved, with most being used for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The silo that stored iron-making raw materials in the past has become the headquarters of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee. The clean coal workshop has been transformed into Chinese national team ice training base. The Big Air Shougang has been constructed next to the cooling tower. What was once a cooling pump station now is a security check area for spectators to enter the stadium during the game.
The plan of Shougang Park.
In addition, many new green technologies were also used during the renovation of Shougang Park. For example, photovoltaic power generation, solar fiber lighting, non-negative pressure water supply system, etc. are used in the venue, and the landscape road is also paved with recycled permeable bricks made of construction waste.
Big Air Shougang at sunset. (Xinhua/Tao Xinan)
Since the transformation, the Park is attracting international attention and recognition. In 2016, C40, a global network of mayors taking urgent action to confront the climate crisis, accepted Shougang Park into their Climate Positive Development Programme, a performance-based recognition system of the world’s most ambitious district-scale low-carbon projects.
In 2021, the Shougang Park Urban Weaving District project took home a World Design Award officiated by The Architecture Community, since it transformed the century-old Capital Steel Factory Park into a vibrant urban space.
A cyberpunk venue that will serve after the Olympics
The Big Air Shougang in the Park is a landmark architecture in this remodeled community. It is known as the first competition venue in the history of the Winter Olympics to reuse industrial heritage, reusing industrial resources such as the cooling towers of the Shouguang Group. It is also the world's first permanently preserved ski big air venue. This means that, after the Winter Olympics, this sports venue, which meets international standards, can continue to serve the visitors and athletes.
The Big Air Shougang consists of three parts: the track, the referee tower and the audience area. The track is 164 meters long, 34 meters wide at its widest point, and 60 meters at its highest platform. There were four Winter Olympic gold medals awarded here at the just-concluded Beijing 2022.
Aerial photography of Big Air Shougang. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)
It has also gained world attention due to its three cooling towers in the background., making the venue become a industrial-style, cyberpunk sports place has won the love and praise of many athletes.
"Compared to 2019, the field is smoother, the platform is greater and the snow quality is much better," said Norway's Birk Ruud, who last Wednesday won the gold medal in the men's freestyle skiing big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics. In 2019, he won the men's ski big air gold in the X Games Aspen at the same place.
"When I'm on it, it's not like skiing on a metal frame, but more like being in a ski park," said Canada's Evan McEachran, who competed in men's ski big air final here. "The field has a very wide landing area. Everything is perfect and I feel very safe."
It is also the only Beijing 2022 Olympics venue located at the urban area. Gu Ailing said that this is the most beautiful ski big air venue she has ever seen. "After I take off from the track here, I can see my home not far away (in the city)."
Gu Ailing of Team China competes during women's freeski big air final at Big Air Shougang in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 8, 2022. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)
The Big Air isn't the only sport venue in the Shougang park. Two original coal workshops will also be transformed into venues for short track speed skating, figure skating, curling and ice hockey. These facilities will serve residents year-round after the Winter Olympics. Other parts of the Shougang Park will become a place for tourism, sports and fitness, and even concert venues.
"Seeing this fantastic, iconic new venue and seeing how well it operates is really beyond my imagination," said IOC President Thomas Bach after watching a game at the Big Air Shougang. He also praised it as an impressive example of urban planning and renewal. He climbed the third blast furnace in Shougang Park to get a overlook, "When it comes to sustainability, you just have to look here."
“Shougang Park will be for a long time a symbol of urban regeneration,” said Marie Sallois, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Director for Sustainability. “It is an impressive example showing how with creativity, drive and innovation we can transform city landscapes into more liveable, citizen-friendly and greener spaces.”
Author | Alice, Abby
Editor | Wing, Steven, Monica, Jerry
