MVRDV designs China’s badminton headquarters with racket roof and shuttlecock tower

The main building will include an arena and warm-up and training courts, arranged around a T-shaped public space, with a plaza at the centre, known as the “Sweet Spot” – a reference to the bit of a racket that produces the best strike. These elements will be covered by a 240m-long roof in the shape of a racket head, gridded with photovoltaic panels.

Below the public level will be laboratories for sport research. However, the most eye-catching element will be a 23-storey tower designed to look like a shuttlecock, located south of the main building. It will be taken up by hotel rooms on the lower levels with short-stay apartments for athletes above.

Two commercial buildings, also shaped like rackets, will be built in the site’s southeast.

Public courts for badminton, basketball and football, a swimming pool and gyms are located in another racket-shaped building on the west of the site.

The sports park will have a 100m running track, a children’s playground, mini basketball courts, skate board area and table tennis tables. It will meet a green corridor running underneath a motorway that cuts through Pingshan at the northwest edge of the site.

Jacob van Rijs, MVRDV’s founding partner, said: “Given the programme of the complex, it was clear that the Pingshan Sports Park should be a real celebration of all sports, but more than anything else, it should be a celebration of badminton.

“With the design of the Sweet Spot, we tackled that requirement head-on, with a fun and easily readable concept that anyone can appreciate.

“At the same time, we took great care to resolve this complex project in a way that is efficient, sustainable, and social. We’re thrilled we were able to take the winning shot in this competition!”