The Opportunity

Resiliency is paramount to urban planning. Designers have a responsibility to consider the long term impact of development and what it means for communities. When Olympic infrastructure is poorly planned, the result can be not only a painful waste of a city’s money and resources, but also the squandering of a unique chance to grow. Due to policy changes, the turn of the century was a period of significant transformation for China and Beijing. The government recognized an opportunity in hosting the Olympics to invest in progress. It became a way to develop a strategic site on the city’s northern edges and to showcase possibilities for the future.

China held an open international competition where designers pitched their visions for the Olympic Green. “Other firms were very focused on grandeur and monumental sports facilities with a desire to receive the commission to design them,” says Dennis Pieprz, principal and urban designer at Sasaki. He adds, “we set ourselves apart in the competition through our belief that the main agenda should be driven by the urban design framework, the public realm.”

The Approach

Sasaki’s design was based on seamless integration, resiliency, and flexibility. In terms of infrastructure, integration was created through connecting nodes of transit stations and public plazas along the plan’s North/South axis. Culturally, Sasaki paid close attention to the broader historical context, relating significant spaces to specific dynasties. To create utility over time, we recommended that most of the non-sports facilities be repurposed as mixed-use development after the games. “We didn’t designate what these buildings should be. We simply said they should have an important civic use,” says Pieprz. Sasaki’s intentions for the built work went beyond athletic competition and primed the district for growth.

Our plan, today

The integration of the Olympic Green into the urban fabric of Beijing has been successful and productive in the long term. The area features three stops on the line 8 subway, one stop on line 15, and over 20 bus connections, allowing easy, sustainable movement. The city’s expansion has grown around and enveloped the plan’s large open space, Forest Park. A 2012 post-occupancy study by the Landscape Architecture Foundation showcased positive responses from surveyed visitors pertaining to the park’s exercise and recreation spaces, as well as its use by the surrounding elementary schools. Then in 2021, another study by Pennsylvania State University professor, Hong Wu et al., published in Socio-Ecological Practice Research, also praised the park’s public health benefits and highlighted the peak daily visitation reaching over 100,000 on weekends. The park has become an incredibly valuable and well-used escape from crowded urban living. 

Sasaki’s hopes for more mixed use civic space have also come to fruition. The Beijing Asian Finance Building, the China Science and Technology Museum, and the China National Convention Center have all since found their place in the area formerly used for the Olympics. Additionally, the Olympic Village which housed all the athletes during the games has been turned into apartment buildings available for rent. Creating opportunities to repurpose buildings post-Olympics is an important consideration for built work that can stimulate development.

The Olympics, tomorrow

When asked if he would change anything about the plan if faced with the same prompt, Pieprz answered, “I think if we were doing it again, we would push for a more transformable set of Olympic facilities.” Large arenas and sports complexes are essential for an Olympic host city, but they also often cause the biggest problem. The Beijing National Stadium, or Bird’s Nest, still stands today as an oversized sports facility. It is a magnificent tourist attraction and monument, but as Pieprz puts it, “the risk is that it was a one-off object, not easy to reuse or dismantle.” 

Not every city has a need beyond the Olympics for a high capacity arena; it can end up being a financial burden in maintaining it, or an eye-sore when it enters disuse. Cities like London in 2012, and Paris this year, have utilized temporary stadiums, existing stadiums, or stadiums that can be partially dismantled. However, creativity can be a remedy for the limitations of sports facilities. The Water Cube, the aquatics center, has been turned into a water park for children and families. It is one example of how seemingly one-dimensional structures can continue to serve the community.

The nature of the Olympics makes longevity a challenge for urban designers, but Sasaki and Beijing’s commitment to flexible spaces has made the Olympic Green a lesson in how to create a sustainable plan for spectacle and community. The games will live in a place for 16 days, but these spaces will become the backdrop of daily life for locals. With this in mind, Sasaki’s work follows a human-centered approach; when planning for the Olympics, designers must create space for community.