佛山岭南明珠体育馆

Foshan Lingnan Mingzhu Gymnasium stands at 79 Lingnan Avenue North in Chancheng District, just north of the Foshan television tower, and was built for the 12th Guangdong Provincial Games. Work began on 25 April 2004, the structure was topped out on 28 February 2005 and the building was completed on 28 July 2006 at a cost of about 550 million yuan, to a winning scheme by Japan's Environmental Design Institute under Minoru Senda, with Guangzhou No. 3 Construction as main contractor. The complex covers roughly 335 mu with 76,000 sqm of floor area and comprises the main arena, a training hall, a public hall and a fitness plaza; the three buildings are linked by domed corridors, their structure drawing on the traditional dougong bracket in combination with membrane roofing, so that the white arcs read as three pearls and the interior is naturally lit and ventilated, while a circular covered walkway encloses the plaza on the west. The main arena occupies a 3,500 sqm footprint with 75,967 sqm of floor area, rises 33 m, spans 132 m and has one basement and four upper floors, seating more than 8,500 spectators in 5,788 fixed and 2,804 movable seats. The training hall seats more than 920 and serves as a badminton hall day to day and as the main arena's warm-up space during major events; the public hall is a smaller multi-purpose sports building; and the fitness plaza covers 28,000 sqm with a 600 m outdoor gallery and 18 open-air basketball courts. During the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games the main arena hosted boxing. Since 1 January 2007 the municipal government has entrusted operation to Foshan Zhongao Plaza Management, part of the China Sports Industry group, which runs badminton and basketball sessions bookable through the Zhongti Sports Space mini-programme.