Olympic Games
Venues: Judo and Taekwondo
Judo and Taekwondo venues
New building added to the Beijing University of Science and Technology
Last Updated: Friday, August 7, 2009 | 2:53 PM ET
By Bernice Chan CBC Sports
A bird's eye view of Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium in Beijing. (Liu Jin/Getty Images) Engineering geeks at the Beijing University of Science and Technology have a new playground more related to physical exercise than physics and metallurgy.
The gymnasium is the latest addition to the campus, which, come August, will host the Judo and Taekwondo competitions for the Olympics.
From the outside it looks like a giant rustic red oval box made with Lego bricks with its ends chopped off. The building’s local designer felt it was crucial for the venue to be as green as possible to meet the mandate of the 2008 Games as being “green.”
As a result, there are solar panels on the roof to covert the sun’s rays into electricity to heat the water, and a reclaimed water system. The building also has a large number of fibre optic light pipes so that on very sunny days, as much natural sunlight as possible can filter through.
Inside there are the main gymnasium and an indoor swimming pool. The main gym features the competition area surrounded on all four sides with some 8,000 seats.
After the Olympics, the venue will host the Paralympic wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball events. As a result, the designer tried to make the building accessible to people with disabilities. The results will be evident in August.
