Petal-like cladding wraps around this 80,000-seat stadium, which forms the centrepiece of NBBJ's riverside Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center in China.
The 400,000-square-metre stadium is designed to evoke the lotus flowers found in the West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Hangzhou that is celebrated for its gardens and temples.
It is teamed with series of smaller sporting facilities in the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center, also designed by NBBJ, including a complementary 10,000-seat stadium dedicated to tennis.

"Hangzhou is one of the most scenic cities in China, and its West Lake is renowned for its beauty, elegance and unique foliage," NBBJ told Dezeen.
"The stadium draws upon this beauty by using the indigenous water lily, also called a lotus, of the West Lake as its conceptual inspiration, and then interpreting the form into a series of modular petal structures that gracefully surround the stadium."
The complex's main stadium is primarily used for football matches, however it was designed to be flexible so that it can host a range of sports events including the 2022 Asian Games.

It is built primarily from steel, with exterior facades and roof structure that were computationally-designed by NBBJ using parametrics. This was to ensure the building was as light as possible, and in turn reduce material waste and the building's carbon footprint.

NBBJ has landscaped the area surrounding the stadium with light-coloured surfaces and areas of greenery.
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