Sports Facilities: Gorgeous Stadiums
Does anything bring huge groups of people together in the way professional and collegiate sports do? Just imagine the sports facilities of Beijing, London, or Rio de Janeiro filling up for a lecture on the history of modern civilization or cancer or some other equally important topic. You can’t, can you? But people flocked to these stadiums over and over again during the Olympics in 2008, 2012, and 2016.
Someday in the future, lectures or video games (in Korea this is closer to a reality) might fill up a 90,000 seat stadium. For the time being, however, only sports do so on a regular basis. Most sports teams understand the importance of their stadiums, and they build beautiful sports facilities for themselves and the fans. Let’s take a look at the most stylish way to pack thousands of rabid fans into a small space for a few hours.
Beautiful Sports Facilities Across the Globe
Some of these stadiums seat the entire populations of large towns, others only 15,000. Whether built for the Olympics, the World Cup, or the local professional team, these stadiums attract guests with not only their events but also their designs.
Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena
Located southwest of Shanghai on a plot of more than 160 acres. Designed to resemble Shanghai’s municipal flower, the magnolia, this stadium’s roof opens in eight petal-shaped sections. The entire complex houses 25 tennis courts, but no other sports facilities boast the same retractable roof. The gigantic petals slide into place to form a roof in under 8 minutes.
Ericsson Globe
A few sports facilities lay claim to their country’s designated event center, but none, aside from the Ericsson Globe, can say they are the sun of their nation. Yes, this 16,000 seat stadium hosts hockey games, major concerts, and gymnastics tournaments, but it is also a replica of the sun within a replica solar system across the country. According to design, the architects scaled the structure to 1/20 millionths of these celestial body’s actual size. With respect to the same scale, visitors can find the planets as they travel north from the stadium in Stockholm.
Borisov Arena
Located in Barysaw, Belarus, this stadium hosts the national soccer team and the local professional club, FC BATE Borisov. The stadium first opened its doors in 2014 to 11,000 viewers. The architects nestled this stadium in the forest, and paths take guests from the parking lot, through the trees, and into the stadium’s plaza. This stadium boasts a sleek, domed design to improve acoustics and create an intimidating atmosphere. The exterior gives the impression of something living with textured and perforated aluminum paneling separated by oval windows.
Continue Reading Part II
In our next blog, Sports Facilities Advisory finishes off our list of the most beautiful sports facilities in the world. From Asia to Africa, the next stadiums are sure to stun. We run feasibility studies and execute facility planning on sports facilities large and small. Let Sports Facilities Advisory know if we can help you on any project.