Xiangyang National Sports Center / CSADI

Architects: CSADI
Area: 138000 m²
Year: 2023
Photographs: Yilong Zhao
Manufacturers: China Construction Eighth Engineering Group, Ningbo Marriott, Storm
Lead Architects: Xiao Peng
Design Team: CSADI
Design Director: Xiao Peng
Architecture: Xiao Peng, Li Fang, Zhou Kaixuan, Hou Lian, Zhang Jian
Structure: Zhou Deliang, Gong Zhanyu, Fang Shaowen, Zhang Shuqiang, Zhang Yifan
HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning): Wang Chunxiang, Leng Hongjie
Water Supply and Drainage: Deng Bin, Zhu Huajun
Electrical: Rong Hao, Xia Zhengzhong
Landscape: Li Tingguang
Green Building and Sponge City: Wu Yinguang
Floodlighting: Wang Xiaowen
Bridge: Wang Huan
Cost Estimation: Yue Hongli
Constructor: China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Co., Ltd.
Clients: Xiangyang Hanjiang Xincheng Sports Industry Co., Ltd.
City: Xiang Yang
Country: China

Xiangyang National Sports Center, designed by CSADI in Dongjin New District, Xiangyang, Hubei Province, includes a 30,000-seat Class B stadium, a 33,000 m² national fitness hall, and supporting sports facilities. Serving as the largest national fitness center in Xiangyang and a backup venue for the Hubei Provincial Games, the project meets the area’s growing demand for sports and fitness while generating significant social impact. Inspired by the local landscape, the design concept, “Xiangshui floating like clouds, ribbons dancing with elegance,” integrates the center with the region’s mountains and rivers, blending the buildings into their surroundings using overhead structures and hollowed forms. A low-carbon, energy-efficient approach prioritizes passive measures, including a BIM model for optimization, Ladybug simulations for 100% sunshade coverage, Xflow wind tunnel technology to reduce airflow disruption, and Radiance calculations to increase indoor daylighting by 26%, achieving an overall energy-saving rate of over 78%. Addressing post-game use, the project emphasizes operational flexibility through a layout with adaptable spaces separated by lightweight ALC panels, allowing reconfiguration to meet various needs and improve utilization rates during and after events.

Xiangyang national sports center / csadi

Project Overview
The Xiangyang National Sports Center is situated in Dongjin New District, Xiangyang City, Hubei Province. It is bordered by Lumen Avenue, Hanguang Avenue, East Haoranhe Road, and Xiaopohe Road. The project comprises a Class B stadium with 30,000 seats, a 33,000-square-meter national fitness hall, and supporting sports facilities. Serving as the largest national fitness facility in Xiangyang and a backup venue for the Hubei Provincial Games, the center has significantly addressed the urgent demand for sports and fitness among local residents, resulting in a notable social impact.

Artistic Concept: A Sports Center Reflecting Regional Identity
The project is positioned at the intersection of Xiangyang’s urban greening and landscape axes, surrounded by a scenic natural environment. The Hanjiang River flows from west to east, and, together with the rolling mountains, forms a geographical pattern where mountains and water encircle the city. Drawing inspiration from this urban landscape pattern, the design adopts the concept of “Xiangshui (rivers in Xiangyang) floating like clouds, ribbons dancing and showing elegance”. This approach harmonizes with the natural topography, blending romantic poetic expression with rational design principles.

Environment Creation: Crafting a Sports Experience Amid Mountains and Rivers
The design emphasizes environmental integration across the entire site, ensuring that the large-scale buildings harmonize with the surrounding landscape. The building layout follows the natural water systems, while techniques such as overhead structures and hollowed-out sections conceal the building interfaces, giving the appearance of clouds floating above their bases. This design approach allows the buildings to merge seamlessly with the park, offering visitors a sports experience that feels like walking among green mountains and clear waters.

Green and Low Carbon: “Give Priority to Passive Measures and Optimize Active Ones”
To address the high energy consumption typical of sports venues, the design adopts an energy-saving strategy that emphasizes “giving priority to passive measures and optimizing active ones” to achieve low carbon emissions, reduced energy use, and minimal water consumption. A BIM model is developed for design optimization. Ladybug software is used to simulate the roof shape, ensuring 100% sunshade coverage for the spectator stands. Xflow wind tunnel technology is applied to minimize the impact of airflows on the competition venue. Moreover, Radiance software is employed to calculate and adjust the quantity, size, and distribution of the roof light pipes, resulting in a 26% increase in the indoor natural daylighting rate. Overall, calculations indicate that the energy-saving rate exceeds 78%.

Post-Game Operation: Operation Priority from Start to Finish
To address issues such as vacancy and low utilization rates after games, the concept of operation priority is applied throughout the design process. In terms of spatial layout, strategies of “flexible reservation” and “composite adaptation” are employed to accommodate differing operational needs between regular use and game periods, as well as dynamic operation requirements. The atrium between the stadium and the ecological platform forms a “flexible connection” to prevent interference between game-time and non-game activities. Moreover, numerous flexible and reconfigurable spaces are included. These spaces, partitioned using prefabricated lightweight ALC panels, can be adjusted or converted according to specific needs, enhancing overall space utilization.