△ The fitness center features an open space that faces the park.
Background
This project is situated in Linping Sports Park, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, and aims to provide supporting facilities for the newly developed park. It includes buildings such as a fitness center, indoor multi-purpose ball courts, and rest stations. As a rare urban oasis in a densely populated city, the park emphasizes ecological running. The landscape is simple and flowing, featuring open lawns and streamlined running tracks, while preserving the original ecological greenery to the greatest extent possible.
△ Fitness center integrated seamlessly into the sports park.
Design Philosophy
Venue buildings often have large, iconic forms due to functional requirements. However, in this park setting, a fully enclosed and bulky volume would clash with the park’s natural openness.
Our design approach aims to extend the park’s ecological, open, and landscaped qualities into the building by “blurring” its boundaries. The goal is to dissolve the building’s volume, soften the division between nature and architecture, and ultimately have the building either blend into nature or become part of the landscape itself. Guided by principles of ecology, openness, and landscape integration, we selected an umbrella-shaped structure as the fundamental building unit.
Concept development
A single umbrella-shaped unit appears lightweight and landscape-oriented, offering a distinctive form. Its open space beneath the circular canopy integrates freely with the environment. When multiple umbrella units connect, they create unique interior spaces.
Depending on functional needs, these umbrella units can be flexibly combined to suit the park’s environment. They can serve as either landscape structures or large functional spaces. For this design, umbrellas with a 5-meter radius and 9-meter height—similar in scale to the park’s main tree species—were chosen as the basic unit and combined according to function to form the sports venue.
The fitness center’s roof showcases distinctive patterns and shapes.
Fitness Center Venue
The fitness center spans approximately 3,800 square meters and consists of 49 umbrella-shaped units clad in white GRC and gray-white aluminum panels. The venue feels light and transparent, open and free—like a frozen forest—where park greenery, plazas, and running tracks intertwine with the building. Architecture and nature permeate each other, allowing visitors to navigate freely from all directions.
The GRC “forest” harmoniously embedded in nature.
△ East side view of Yuanwang Fitness Center.
△ Open space along the river.
△ Open space facing the park side.
Open space sheltered by umbrella-shaped structures.
△ Fitness Center Roof Track.
The running track weaves through the fitness center.
To enhance the building’s identity, we incorporated three large umbrella units with a diameter of 20 meters. A spiral staircase connects the ground floor and rooftop, using one umbrella as a fulcrum. Visitors can transition from the ground to the circular rooftop track, enjoying a unique experience of “floating” above the park while walking or exercising.
△ Fitness center illuminated at night.
△ View of the fitness center from the riverside.
△ Nighttime view of the gray space inside the fitness center.
Interior space formed by continuous umbrella-shaped structures.
△ Fitness Center Hall.
Spiral running track connecting the ground floor and rooftop.
View of the fitness center lobby from the spiral staircase.
△ Central lamp beneath the glass roof.
View of the rooftop running track from the ground floor open space.
Comprehensive Indoor Arena
The indoor arena covers approximately 4,100 square meters and comprises 10 basic umbrella-shaped units and a rectangular arena. To accommodate the need for a large column-free space suitable for indoor tennis courts, the main court adopts a spatial grid structure. The building faces both the park’s central landscape and main entrance. We designed 10 umbrella units to create a buffer zone between the landscape and the large venue, allowing flexible connections. This “forest” also provides sheltered outdoor activity spaces within the arena.
△ The park and tennis court connect flexibly through the gray space.
To minimize the visual impact of the large venue on the environment, the building’s exterior is clad with high-reflectivity anodized aluminum panels. This treatment transforms the building into a natural extension of its surroundings, allowing it to blend into the environment.
Anodized aluminum panels help the tennis court become a natural continuation of the environment.
Conclusion
The sports venue, built from umbrella-shaped units, gently integrates into the environment through a “blending” approach, preserving the ecological, open, and landscaped qualities of the sports park. We envision the building disappearing into the landscape, with the “forest” of umbrella units merging with the natural woodland, offering a unique and memorable experience for visitors who come to exercise.
△ The tennis court size is discreetly nestled within nature.
The gray space formed by the umbrella-shaped colonnade at the junction between the tennis court and the park.
Children playing within the umbrella-shaped gray space.
Design Drawings
△ First floor plan of the fitness center.
△ Second floor plan of the fitness center.
△ Roof plan of the fitness center.
△ Front elevation of the fitness center.
△ Section view of the fitness center.
△ Multi-dimensional composite space inside the fitness center.
△ Detailed architectural drawing.
Project Information
Project Type: Entertainment and Training Venue
Location: Hangzhou, China
Architectural Firm: Architectural Landscape Design
Area: 7,900 m²
Year: 2019
Manufacturers: Nanjing Sanhui, Anometric
Lead Architects: Yin Jiandong, Zhu Zhenyi
Architectural Design Team: Peng Yonglei, Ni Fangwen, Dai Limiao, Ge Yi, Zhang Xuan, Feng Chao
Structural Engineers: Lu Jun, Jin Weiming, Sun Huilang
Water Supply and Drainage Design: Yang Yingchun
HVAC Design: Du Chengkai
Electrical Design: Li Pengzhan, Tang Lin
Curtain Wall Design: Wang Gang, Zeng Junhui, Yang Delin
Principal: Hangzhou Yuhang Urban Construction Group Co., Ltd
Construction Contractor: Zhejiang LiLi Construction Co., Ltd
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