西藏体育馆

Tibet Gymnasium at 27 Niangre Road in Chengguan District is one of the 43 aid projects decided at the second Central Work Conference on Tibet in 1984 and one of its three priority schemes. Zhejiang Province built it as a turnkey project: work started in May 1984 and the hall was completed with the rest of the programme in September 1985, marking the 20th anniversary of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The building has about 8,100 square metres of floor area, of which the competition hall accounts for 7,181. It is a three-storey reinforced concrete frame with a 56.4-metre steel roof truss and an eaves height of 18.1 metres. The playing floor measures 36 by 22 metres on double-layer hardwood, with 12.5 metres of clear height to the ceiling and 3,100 fixed seats in stepped stands, plus 1,000 movable seats, allowing capacities of 4,000 for rallies, 2,200 for stage shows and 2,400 for film screenings. Timber-and-mesh acoustic walls, a fireproof acoustic ceiling, 120-circuit thyristor dimming, computer-controlled scoreboards able to display Tibetan, Chinese and English, and a retractable west stand that opens into a 16 by 9.2 metre stage were all advanced for their time. Hot-water heating and tempered fresh air keep the hall at 16 degrees Celsius in winter. In June 2024 it hosted the Tibetan tug-of-war competition. The hall remains in use for regional tournaments, ceremonies and public events, and is a representative example of 1980s Chinese aid architecture in Lhasa. Its stage, projection room and three-language scoreboards still give it unusual flexibility for a building of its age.