Dalian Shide Football Stadium in Dalian, China

August 21, 2010 Category: Public Buildings, Sports

Dalian Shide Football Stadium, located in Dalian, China, designed by UNstudio has won the limited competition for a 40,000 spectator football stadium for the most successful club in the Chinese Super League: Dalian Shide FC. The stadium will be built in the club’s hometown of the city of Dalian, on the southern tip of Liaodong peninsula in Northeast China.

The decision saw NBBJ’s innovative open-ended design which reinvented stadium design for the sustainable era, knocked out of the competition in favour of a more traditional closed stadium design. But while the chosen design does not flaunt its green credentials openly, sustainability has been at the heart of the design process and a more subtle natural inspiration is present.

Using the bamboo ball as inspiration, UNstudio‘s design for the 38,500 sq m stadium weaves together the collective spirit of the spectators with the public realm and the urban context of the building. The main stadium houses spectator seating, TV broadcasting centre, administration areas, VIP lounge, players facilities and public concourse in a layered envelope which extends on ground level to provide outdoor public areas above decked parking facilities. In addition, the design incorporates two training fields on the 144,000 sq m site.

Within the fabric of the design, thermal comfort is optimised to reduce HVAC energy consumption. High-reflectance sustainable material used for the rooftop minimises solar heat gain by reflecting solar radiation and thereby reducing cooling load to HVAC system while the design provides significant spectator shading from excess sunlight. Shading and reflection are used throughout to this effect but strategic tree planting and permeable grasscrete in the surrounding outdoor areas also improve conditions ecologically. Water saving and recycling measures are integrated and the potential to add photovoltaic panels to the structures significant roof space has been considered along with the potential for a solar thermal hot water supply to reduce emissions and a sea water source heat pump to provide cooling during the Summer season and heating during the Winter months, all of which can be integrated as the design develops.

Dalian Shide Football Stadium Design Architechture Plan 1