Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center
The Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium (simplified Chinese: 北京奥林匹克篮球馆; traditional Chinese: 北京奧林匹克籃球館; pinyin: Běijīng Àolínpǐkè Lánqiúguǎn), or Wukesong Indoor Stadium (simplified Chinese: 五棵松体育馆; traditional Chinese: 五棵松體育館; pinyin: Wǔkēsōng Tǐyùguǎn) is an indoor arena for the 2008 Summer Olympics basketball preliminaries and finals. Ground was broken on March 29, 2005 and construction was completed on 11 January 2008. The stadium has a capacity of 18,000 and covers an area of 63,000 square metres. It was scaled back from its original design due to a 43% budget cut.
The stadium was constructed by Beijing Wukesong Cultural & Sports Co. Ltd. whose five shareholders are Zhongguancun CENCONS Group, Haidian State-owned Assets Investment Co. Ltd,Beijing Urban Construction Group Co. Ltd, Beijing Urban Construction Co. Ltd and the Tianhong Group.
Project Venue: The project is located at the intersection of the extended section of Chang’an Street and the West 4th Ring, adjacent to Wukesong Station on metro Line 1.
Construction Scale: The planned construction area is about 350,000 square meters.
Construction Schedule: Construction began in March 2005. The baseball field will be started in second half of the year 2005, completed in May 2007 and the stadium will be completed in August 2007.
After the Olympic Games, the center will become an important part of Beijing’s Olympic Games heritage, and will allow citizens in the western districts and Beijing as a whole to enjoy cultural, sports, leisure, recreational and commercial activities. It will be a large-scale comprehensive project rare in Beijing in integrating cultural and sporting functions and commercial purposes with large-scale gardens and green space.
Other Information
- Location : Beijing, China
- Broke ground : March 2005
- Opened : January 2008
- Owner : Government of the People’s Republic of China
- Surface : Grass
- Construction cost : RMB ? billion, $ ? million
- Tenants : Chinese Olympic Committee; 2008 Summer Olympics
- Capacity : 18,000
- Architect : Gu Yonghui