‘shanghai oriental sports center’ by gmp architekten, shanghai, china image courtesy © marcus bredt

shanghai’s ‘oriental sports center’ by hamburg-based studio gmp architekten, is now complete. the complex – opening tomorrow – will be inaugurated with the 14th FINA world swimming championships. constructed in under two and half years, the design is the result of an international competition held in 2008.

gmp architekten: shanghai oriental sports center now complete overall view of siteimage courtesy © marcus bredt

built on former brownfield land along the huangpu river, the facility consists of three individual buildings intended to accommodate a range of audiences, events and pools. the crisp white structures – each unique in size and form – are defined by broad, repetitious arches and triangular elements that project a sail-like aesthetic.

gmp architekten: shanghai oriental sports center now complete entrance of hall stadiumimage courtesy © marcus bredt

the sinuous volumes – a hall stadium, natatorium and outdoor pool – are visually connected through a series of man-made ponds and islands. dictated by the shapes of the buildings, the calm and reflective water seeks to integrate the divided site, and alludes to a much more natural environment.

gmp architekten: shanghai oriental sports center now complete exterior view of the natatoriumimage courtesy © marcus bredt

holding over 3,500 fixed seats (5,000 after the FIDA competition), the natatorium contains four pools, all arranged in a row. designed to showcase multiple events simultaneously, the unit features two standard-sized pools, a diving pool and a leisure pool.

gmp architekten: shanghai oriental sports center now complete diving pool in natatoriumimage courtesy © marcus bredt

gmp architekten: shanghai oriental sports center now complete interior view of the natatoriumimage courtesy © marcus bredt

the outdoor swimming complex is an open-air pavilion located on an artificial island. encircling a competition-size diving pool and diving towers, the skewed and exposed structure currently houses 2,000 fixed stadium seats, and is set to include anther 3,000 after event. 

gmp architekten: shanghai oriental sports center now complete view of outdoor pool from the streetimage courtesy © marcus bredt

gmp architekten: shanghai oriental sports center now complete outdoor poolsimage courtesy © marcus bredt

the stadium hall has a crowd capacity of 14,000 and can be expanded to 18,000 through mobile seating. during the FINA championships, the building will be used for synchronized swimming events, and will later accommodate boxing matches, basketball games, concerts and ice-hockey.

gmp architekten: shanghai oriental sports center now complete detail of facadeimage courtesy © marcus bredt

gmp architekten: shanghai oriental sports center now complete view of hall stadium from across man-made pondimage courtesy © marcus bredt

gmp architekten: shanghai oriental sports center now complete night viewimage courtesy © marcus bredt

gmp architekten: shanghai oriental sports center now complete site planimage courtesy © gmp architekten

project info:

competition: 2008 – 1st prize design: meinhard von gerkan and nikolaus goetze with magdalene weiss project leader: chen ying team: jan blasko, lü cha, lü miao, jörn ortmann, sun gaoyang, yan lüji, jin zhan, fang hua, martin friedrich, fu chen, ilse gull, kong rui, lin yi, katrin löser, ren yunping, alexander schober, nina svensson, tian jinghai, zhang yan, zhou yunkai, zhu honghao structural engineers: schlaich bergermann and partners international installations: arup landscaping: wes & partner chinese partner firm: siadr, tongji design institute capacity: hall stadium 18,000 seats, natatorium 5,000 seats, outdoor swimming pool 5,000 seats client: shanghai administration of sports construction period: 2009–2011