Atlas Lantz Studio
Pingshan
Badminton
Academy
Pingshan, China
2024
The design reimagines the sports campus not as a singular monument, but as a living extension of the city. Drawing inspiration from the Hakka round houses of the Pingshan region—longstanding symbols of unity and community—the project abstracts the circular logic of these structures into a unifying architectural language that binds the campus together.
To counter the inherent monumentality of large sports facilities, the program is draped and layered into a continuous topographic form. Volumes are pushed downward as landscape is pulled upward, creating an undulating terrain that dissolves the boundary between building and park. Roofs become accessible landscapes, circulation networks extend through and across the campus, and the architecture meets the ground gently at a human scale.
What emerges is not an object in isolation, but a civic terrain—an inhabitable park experience where athletes, spectators, and neighbors move fluidly through a shared environment. In reframing the stadium as shared ground rather than monument, the project weaves sport, landscape, and community into a unified and enduring civic form.
"What emerges is not an object in isolation, but a civic terrain—an inhabitable park experience where athletes, spectators, and neighbors move fluidly through a shared environment."
The project was initiated through a municipal vision to establish a world-class badminton academy and sports campus that would serve as both a national training ground and an international destination. The local government sought to elevate the region’s global presence in competitive sport while creating a civic institution that could foster community pride, youth development, and long-term economic vitality.
Rather than delivering a singular stadium, the ambition was to create a best-in-class academy—one capable of attracting elite athletes, hosting international tournaments, and advancing research, medical, and training excellence. The facility was intended to operate as a flagship civic investment: a symbol of cultural identity, unity, and forward-thinking urban development. It needed to perform at the highest global standards while remaining deeply rooted in the local context and accessible to the surrounding community.
The work presented here was completed during Andy Lantz’s tenure at RIOS where he led the practice as Global Creative Director & CEO. This project is a demonstration of that leadership either through the active participation in a paid commission with a client or the efforts associated with an invited or open competition.
Project Team:
Andy Lantz, Dora Lin, Andy Magner, Yuntao Xu, andJi Gan.
The project called for the development of a comprehensive badminton-focused sports campus totaling 4.5 million square feet. The program included a 10,000-seat stadium, a multipurpose competition hall, a 300-key training center and academy with integrated medical and research facilities, a swimming and sports complex, and administrative offices.
Beyond accommodating this extensive program, the design needed to address a fundamental challenge: how to mitigate the imposing scale of such a large complex and transform it into a human-centered, community-oriented environment. The architecture was tasked with creating cohesion across diverse functions while ensuring accessibility, permeability, and meaningful connection to the urban fabric. Cultural relevance was also central to the brief, requiring the project to resonate with the historic and social context of the Pingshan region.
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