Binjiang Sports Center: A Smart and Money saving Little White Bowl
Zhejiang Online, September 17th - Located on the banks of the Qiantang River, the Binjiang Sports Center is known as the "Little White Bowl" by Hangzhou residents due to its bowl shaped shape. This used to be the home ground for the 2017-2019 CBA Zhejiang Chouzhou Bank men's basketball team. During the Asian Games, 7 gold medals will be won in badminton events such as men's and women's teams, men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles.
How can a venue that originally hosted provincial-level events be renovated and upgraded to become a venue for hosting world-class badminton events? Recently, the reporter went to the Binjiang Sports Center to explore the situation.
"The 'Little White Bowl' was put into operation in October 2017 and was not too old before the renovation. In order to practice the minimalist concept of organizing competitions, our improvement and renovation ideas can be summarized in 12 words: can be renovated but not built, can be used but not dismantled, can be rented but not purchased." Tang Guohong, the venue operation manager of Binjiang Sports Center, told reporters.
The lack of functional housing is the biggest problem facing the upgrading and renovation of "Little White Bowl". Entering the gymnasium, you can see covered houses, prefabricated houses everywhere, and some offices even converted from containers.
"In the renovation of the gymnasium, two new buildings were built for media and security purposes. However, in response to temporary needs in areas such as information technology, catering, audience services, and broadcasting services during the games, we also built 24 tents and 12 prefabricated houses. Through temporary renovations, the functional area of the ground was doubled, and the cost was effectively controlled." Song Junhua, the director of venue facility operation and maintenance, introduced.
The potential of every "golden corner and silver edge" is fully developed. The idle storage area at the entrance of the west gate of the venue has been transformed into an unmanned supermarket. Viewers only need facial recognition or scanning QR codes to freely enter and exit, choose the food and beverage they want, and automatically settle accounts after exiting the gate, which not only improves cashier efficiency but also reduces labor costs.
Compared to basketball, badminton has a smaller size, faster speed, and higher requirements for lighting. Once there is glare, it can easily affect the performance of athletes. For this reason, during the renovation of "Xiaobaiwan", the lighting system has been specially added - the venue has added 8 rows of lighting, with a focus on installing a badminton lighting system with vertical light sources to ensure uniform, soft, and non glaring brightness in the competition venue.
Tang Guohong said that these lights will not be removed after the Asian Games. If basketball games continue in the future, simply raise the badminton lamp holder and activate the original circular basketball lights. This renovation is beneficial for the venue to easily achieve functional conversion after the competition, and can also enrich the types of sports events that "Little White Bowl" can undertake.
In addition to lighting renovation, the gymnasium is also equipped with specialized floor glue certified by the Badminton World Federation. Unlike general adhesive that is fixed by welding, it adopts a zipper style splicing for easy transportation and disassembly. The wear-resistant layer on the surface of the floor glue is sweat absorbing and anti slip, combined with the imported maple sports floor below, providing comfortable cushioning and good elasticity, which can effectively avoid sports injuries.
"The dedicated adhesive, net poles, and tennis nets used in the venue are all leased and will be returned to the merchants for reuse after the competition." Jiang Guocan, the competition equipment manager of Binjiang Sports Center, calculated that this "can rent but not buy" renovation concept can save about 2 million yuan in competition equipment for the venue alone.
The concept of simplicity is not only reflected in the savings of funds, but also in the convenience of use. Tang Guohong and his team members conducted intensive research on multiple badminton halls in the province, meticulously polishing every usage detail of the venues. Only the facial recognition intelligent storage cabinet in the changing room was renovated and improved, and it was integrated with the design unit for no less than a year. Nowadays, athletes do not need to carry keys and can easily access items by simply tapping the screen to brush their faces.
"Our venue has been open to the public since July last year and has received more than 80000 fitness and visitors of various types, which is very popular among people." Tang Guohong said that in the future, the "Little White Bowl" will release the dividends of the Asian Games to a greater extent. After the Hangzhou Asian Games, it will also be open to citizens for free during specific periods such as holidays.
