The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesAugust 8-24 2008
(BEIJING, October 9) -- The Beijing University of Technology (BUT) Gymnasium is the only Olympic venue located in Beijing's southeastern area. Next year, it will host the Badminton and Rhythmic Gymnastics competitions for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
In addition, two "Good Luck Beijing" sport events will be held at the venue this year: the 2007 International Badminton Invitational Tournament from October 10 - 14 and the 2007 Rhythmic Gymnastics International Invitational Tournament from December 5 to 7.
With a building area of 24,383 sq m, the BUT Gymnasium has seating capacity for 7,500. The gymnasium includes a competition hall and a warm-up hall.
A world record in suspension dome structures
The BUT Gymnasium boasts the world's largest prestressed suspension dome ceiling 93 m in diameter. Also, the steel used in producing the structure weighs less than 1,200 tons, averaging 60 kg per sq m.
Advanced ventilation and air conditioning system
Both badminton and rhythmic gymnastics have strict requirements for wind speed during competition. Particularly for badminton, the International Badminton Federation's (IBF) standard is a constant room temperature of 26 degrees Celsius, with the wind speed no higher than 0.2 m/s.
The BUT Gymnasium can do better than that: it can match the IBF wind speed standard and also keep the room temperature constant at 25 degrees Celsius.
BUT's vice president Zhang Ailin gave the answer: the secret lies in the spectator seats. Underneath every other seat, there are three vents 13 cm in diameter - a total of 9,100 vents are located throughout the gymnasium.
