Olympic Badminton Arena: cable supported dome

摘要

The Badminton Arena (Fig 1) for the 2008 Olympic Games is located at Beijing University of Technology. The building covers 24 383m2 but the total project area is 66 124m2. The arena seats 7508 people. The roof covering is a suspended dome spanning 98m and is thought to be the widest self-balancing, cable supported dome in the world. Pre-stressed steel structures are an unusual type of structural system in which cables can be used to produce internal forces in the structure's members, counteracting those produced by external loads. Such technology is becoming increasingly used in bridges, factory workshops, gymnasiums and so on.