Bao'an Stadium, Universiade 2011

Originally designed as a field-and-track stadium, the arena was used for soccer tournaments during the 2011 Universiade. The extensive bamboo forests of Southern China inspired the design of the stadium: after walking through the two rows of green steel columns, visitors enter the stadium concourse that leads to the steps of the upper tier and lower grandstand. Every second column of the inner row is tied in with the concrete structure of the undulating upper tier and supports the vertical loads of the spectator grandstands. The diameter of the steel tubes, which are up to 32 meters long, varies between 55 and 88 centimeters to suit the different structural conditions. The spectator tiers are spanned by a cable roof with an inner ring and radial spokes covered by a tensile membrane. The roof, with a diameter of 230 meters and a cantilevering projection of 54 meters on each side of the tiers, is formed of 36 radial cable pairs, which are tied together above the playing field via a double circular tension ring consisting of cable bundles.