strategy4china: Design Exhibition for Olympic Green and Wukesong

The winning Sasaki design for Olympic Green	On 1 April 2002, Beijing Municipal Government along with BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games) and Beijing Planning Commission released the tender document for the Design Competition for Beijing Olympic Green and Beijing Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center. Following this was an exhibit to showcase different architectural design concepts and schemes of the two areas which would be used for the 2008 Olympic Games. Tender documents for the Design Competition - PDF document To view this document requires Acrobat Reader. You can dowload the program free of charge. Click the image at the bottom of the page to download. Ms. Sun Bin and Mr. G. Van Kerckhove visited the exhibition at the Beijing International Convention Center to look at the many design proposals for the Beijing Olympic Green and the Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center. Of the 87 design companies that entered the successful design competition, 55 showed their scale models and layouts in the exhibition that was opened to the public from 16 to 29 July. Nearly 50,000 people visited the exhibition and about 10% have cast their personal vote, using the back of the door ticket. It seems the public agreed with Sasaki's first price. The Beijing Olympic Green holds the Olympic Park, the Athletes Village, Cultural and other facilities, the National Stadium (80,000 seats), the National Gymnasium (18,000 seats) and the National Swimming Center (15,000 seats) and is located north of the Fourth Ring Road on the north-south central axis. It has a total area of 1,135 hectares: - 680 hectares of forest - 405 hectares for the Olympic central Area - 50 hectares for the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park and others The Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center is located in the west of the city on the northern part of the extension of Changan Avenue. The area is about 50 hectares and will include the basketball stadium (permanent facility with 18,000 seats), a baseball field (temporary facility with 25,000 seats) and a softball field.	Public interest in the Sasaki design
View on design for Wukesong by Burckhardt		View on Sasaki's design for Wukesong
Ms. Sun Bin at the Sasaki stand for Wukesong		view on Sasaki's design for Wukesong
transparent view of the winning design for Wukesong, courtesy of Burckhardt+PartnerAG		View on design for Wukesong by Burckhardt

Mayor Liu Qi stressed that actual construction would not necessarily follow the winning plans but "the final layout of the Olympic Green will be based on Sasaki's design; the original design will however take advantage of the input from other prize-winning layouts.

The List of Winning the International Competition for Conceptual Planning and Design of Beijing Olympic Green and Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center.
Source: Beijing Municipal Planning Commission

Olympic Green
First Prize:
D50 (A39): Sasaki Associates, Inc. (USA) with Tianjian Huahui Design Inc. (China)
Second Prize:
- D38(A53): Beijing Planning and Design Institute with DEM AUST Pty (Australia)
- D68(A19): Sato (Japan) with Ingerosec Corporation (Japan)
Honorable Mentions:
- D41(A50): AREP (France)
- D52(A37): Army General Equipment Engineering Design Institute with Tianzuo Architectural Institute of Harbin Industrial University
- D53(A36): Beijing Architectual Design and Research Institute with EDSA (USA)
- D66(A22): HWP (Germany)
- D46(A43): Urban Planning Center, Beijing University with Landscape Planning and Design Center, Beijing University

Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center:
First Prize: vacant
Second Prize:
- E74(B12): Sasaki Associates, Inc. (USA)
- E80(B05): Burckhardt+PartnerAG (Swiss)
Honorable Mentions: Mysteriously "empty"

Note (4 November 2002)
It was announced in late September 2002 that the design of Burckhardt+PartnerAG was selected as the "winner". We are not clear if this will change the "amount of the big reward".

Burckhardt+Partner AG
The firm was founded in 1951. The firm is comprised of architects and planners and, with a staff of 150, it is the largest architectural firm in Switzerland.

Burckhardt+Partner AG maintains offices in Basle, Bern. Zurich, Reinach and Stein as well as a branch in Grenzach-Wyhlen (Germany), and a partnership with Cabinet E. Morin, Ass. in Mulhouse (France).
The practice centers on four major specialities; science and research buildings; office buildings; industrial buildings; and housing.

Burckhardt+Partner AG has now a new office based in Beijing, with the objective of participating actively during and after the Ownership Tender process.
Contact:
(Ms) Natalie Plagaro-Cowee, Senior Architect
BurckhardtPartner Zurich in Beijing
Office at: Beijing Institute of Architectural Design and Research
62 Nan Lishi Road, 100045 Beijing, China
Tel. +86 (0) 10 680 111 55 Ext,2504
Fax. +86 (0) 10 680 340 41
Mobile +41 79 430 403 7
e-mail: nplagaro@burckhardtpartner.ch

Click the pictures to enlarge.

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