At the end of each year and the beginning of the year, the National Biathlon Center is often wrapped in silver. From the glass curtain wall of the third floor of the technical building, the white track winds and undulates with the mountain, and the shooting range in front of the track lies quietly on the ground, and the movement and silence are hidden in the snow, which is beautiful.
In the design and construction process of the venue, the team personnel must not only take into account the sports characteristics of skiing and shooting, but also coordinate the needs of the two Olympic Games, the Winter Olympic Games and the Winter Paralympic Games. After nearly 5 years of construction and improvement, it finally presented the best biathlon field in China.
Today, the National Biathlon Center is ready for a spectacular "snow hunt" to be staged during the race.
Design/Dandan Wang
(1) Glide here and experience a journey from modern to ancient
Biathlon is an ancient snow competition that originated in Scandinavia and combines cross-country skiing and shooting to test an athlete's ability to "shift between motion and still".
Due to the two links of skiing and shooting, the location of the biathlon field is particularly critical. Among them, cross-country skiing has extremely high requirements for slope and curve accuracy, and also needs an open field to meet the construction of shooting ranges and penalty circles.
According to Chen Guohui, venue and infrastructure manager of the National Biathlon Center, in 2015, experts from the Planning and Construction Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee went through countless surveys in Hebei and Beijing before finding a site with both mountainous terrain and flat terrain in the valley northeast of the ancient poplar trees in Chongli District, Zhangjiakou.
The track is long and narrow from east to west, and the track is distributed on the north and south sides of the valley, which are the competition track, the training track and the Winter Paralympic competition track, and the flat place in the middle is the core area, which is distributed with the shooting range, penalty circle, starting and finishing area and technical building.
Although he did not participate in the initial survey and stepping point, Chen Guohui understood the difficulties very well. "In the early days, it was inconvenient to walk on the road, especially in the mountains, the mountain roads were not easy to walk, and many times in order to collect data and image data, experts had to climb to the key survey points, which was very hard."
Chen Guohui, Venue and Infrastructure Manager of the National Biathlon Center
During the site selection process, experts were delighted to find that the ancient poplar valley was right under the cover of the ancient Great Wall. With the completion of the ancient poplar stadium complex in 2020, looking west from the National Biathlon Center, the landmark building of the Winter Olympics, "Snow Ruyi", stands on the top of the mountain, and the ruins of the ancient Great Wall lie across the mountain on the east side. The embellishment of these two landmarks makes the geographical location that already has natural advantages even more unique. After departing from the core area, athletes will cross the winding track and enter the shooting range to shoot, and will compete for Olympic honors in a northern scenery.
"'Snow Ruyi' is a modern landmark, and the ruins of the Great Wall are ancient landmarks, so the athletes from the farthest sports track to the farthest place are precisely experiencing a crossing from modern landmarks to ancient landmarks." In 2008, Chen Guohui was a volunteer for the Beijing Olympic Games, and now he has become the venue builder of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, witnessing and participating in the "Double Olympics", his Olympic feelings are even deeper, and he hopes that athletes at home and abroad can feel chinese culture and enjoy the Olympic spirit here.
(2) The track is an ancient tree turn, the natural environment and artificial ingenuity of the drums and chimes
The National Biathlon Center is built on a mountain with trees between them. In order to maximize the protection of the natural ecological environment, the staff has worked hard in the design and construction process.
"Fine-tuning" the track to protect the trees is a common occurrence at the National Biathlon Center.
According to Chen Guohui, during the construction, 13 birch trees were found to coincide with the track, and in order to protect these trees, the track design changed again and again, and finally the location of the trees became a shooting slope; on one occasion, in order to retain a large tree on the north side of the shooting range, the track was deliberately changed to a curve.
It may seem like "fine-tuning", but the wiring, snowmaking, lighting and other work under the track also need to be adjusted accordingly. The National Biathlon Center Race Track, with a total length of 8.7 kilometers, is already huge, and the staff often needs to complete the construction tasks in extremely cold weather.
In addition to protecting trees, the National Biathlon Center also attaches great importance to the protection of mountains.
At the far end of the track at the National Biathlon Center there are 5 landscaped lakes. "These 5 landscape lakes are not original natural lakes, but 5 artificial lakes that we designed to store water through the assessment of the terrain of the track and the water used for snowmaking."
In general, each ski resort will plan a reservoir to collect natural precipitation and snow meltwater for artificial snowmaking.
National Biathlon Center
Considering that the construction process of the reservoir will cause damage to the mountain, the design team did not plan the reservoir on the hillside, but divided a large reservoir into several small reservoirs by the track on both sides of the valley, which formed a landscape lake interspersed between the tracks, which not only met the needs of snowmaking, protected the mountain environment, but also added a flexible beauty to the stadium surrounded by mountains.
With the clever blend of natural and artificial environments, this venue will present the unique charm of forest and sea travel and mountain hunting.
(3) Barrier-free services are meticulous and nuanced, helping to smooth the "winter two"
Due to the task of competing in the Winter Paralympic Games, the barrier-free facilities of the National Biathlon Center embody warmth and care everywhere.
Winter Paralympic athletes are divided into three types: sitting, standing and visually impaired athletes. At the beginning of the planning, the venue considered the content of barrier-free construction, including entrances and exits, elevators, ramps, toilets, dressing rooms and barrier-free identification systems.
According to Liang Xiaodong, the facility manager of the ancient poplar stadium group, in order to meet the accessibility standards, the staff will take the wheelchair to test the experience one by one, including the width of the door, the height of the handrail, the angle of the mirror installation, etc., and find problems to adjust in time. In addition, a number of disabled athletes and accessibility experts will be invited to experience.
One of the highlights of the accessibility of the Ancient Poplar Tree Complex is the "C" shaped walking avenue located here , the "Ice Jade Ring".
The "Ice Jade Ring" is an elevated pedestrian crossing connecting the National Ski Jumping Center, the National Cross-Country Skiing Center, the National Biathlon Center, the Mountain Broadcasting Center and the Technical Officer Hotel, which can provide convenience for spectators traveling between the main entrance of the ancient poplar stadium group and the various competition venues.
According to Liang Xiaodong, there were five elevators at the beginning of the design of the "Ice Jade Ring", and the audience could take the elevator to reach the "Ice Jade Ring" and enter various venues, which could meet the needs of the game. But in order to break down the capacity of elevators and better serve those in need, a 110-meter-long barrier-free passage was later built next to an elevator on Yuhuan Road. The completed ramp is not only used as a barrier-free passage, but also as an emergency passage.
Liang Xiaodong, barrier-free facility manager of the Ancient Poplars Venue Group
Today, the accessibility facilities of the National Biathlon Center are very complete. The athletes' track and the warm-up area are equipped with corresponding barrier-free facilities. Spectators can reach the venue via a barrier-free ramp from the "Ice Jade Ring" or take a barrier-free elevator to the grandstand area. The technical building has at least one accessible restroom on each floor.
"We want to create a respectful, inclusive and practical barrier-free environment for everyone who needs it." Liang Xiaodong said.
(4) Sustainable venues, waiting for the arrival of professionals and tourists
The National Biathlon Centre took into account the issue of post-race utilization at the beginning of the planning.
The temporary buildings in the stadium, such as the security complex and the athletes' complex, use sustainable materials that can be disassembled and recycled at any time after the game. In terms of track utilization, while meeting the needs of sports-specific training and events, the venue will also create training, ice and snow experience and entertainment projects.
"The Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway has achieved the connection between Beijing, Yanqing District of Beijing and Zhangjiakou City in Hebei Province, and after the race, we will carry out outdoor projects to enhance the entertainment here and attract more tourists to come and visit!" Chen Guohui is full of expectations for the post-race development of the National Biathlon Center.
Text/Li Li