Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in China (gmp FOCUS) - Tapa dura

"The Shanghai Oriental Sports Center (SOSC) has emerged as a model project of German architecture and engineering skill" is the verdict of the renowned architecture journalist Dirk Meyhoefer in his architectural critique of the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center. Inaugurated in 2011 on the occasion of the FINA World Swimming Championships, the site brings together the SOSC swimming facilities, a multipurpose venue, and a press centre, whose forms and materials harmonise as an ensemble. From an urban development perspective, its park grounds merge with their surroundings. In this volume, the SOSC is presented by the responsible architects and illuminated by means of images and plans. Dirk Meyhoefer comments on the ensemble in an extensive accompanying critique. Text in English and German.

When the 14th FINA World Championships in swimming were held in Shanghai in 2011, a new sports center, comprising a sports stadium, a swimming stadium, an outdoor swimming pool for platform diving competitions, and a media center, were built on a surface area of over 347,000 square meters. An artificial lake is the connecting element between the various stadia. The buildings stand on plateaux that protrude into the lake. This forms a gently curved bank around the round stadia, and a straight edge in the south for the outdoor swimming pool.