Use of Energy-efficient Materials and Sustainable Design Strategy for Large Sports Architecture in Beijing

The sports facility typically requires large open spaces and thus falls into the category of energy-intensive public architecture. The level of energy consumption directly reflects the operation cost of a large sports facility. The future role of architecture design will be critical to help improve energy efficiency by designing sustainably. Through the study of the use of energy- efficient materials in the design and construction phase, this article analyses the trend of using new energy-efficient materials in large sports architecture in Beijing, and discusses the key factors and techniques for selection of those materials. The impact of using energy-efficient materials on large sports architecture on its daily operation is also discussed. Lastly, it proposes a sustainable strategy for large sports architecture, from architectural design to the selection of energy-efficient materials. As civilizations have evolved, so does the world's need for energy. The question of how to balance economic growth with care for the environment largely revolves around energy. Countries, including China, face the challenge of meeting rising energy needs in ways that are cost-efficient, sustainable and environmentally compatible. Buildings are becoming the heaviest consumers of natural resources in China. The area of public buildings accounts for about a third of the total civil buildings, but they contribute to more than 50% of the total building energy consumption. High-performance green buildings do not represent just an environmentalist vision. They represent opportunities to reduce energy and operation costs. As typical large public buildings, sports stadium and arena are energy intensive. They have the greatest energy-saving potential and are playing a key role to achieve China's energy conservation goals. After successfully hosting the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China has entered into the "post-Olympic era" as hosting large sports events and building sports complex are becoming "new normal". In the process of design and construction, owners are paying more and more attention to their daily operational needs. Energy efficiency is an important factor which influences the operational costs of large sports buildings. China's Ministry of Construction has issued a regulation on civil building energy conservation, which prescribes that "Civil building energy conservation refers to the activities of reducing building energy consumption, reasonable and efficient use of energy in the process of the civil buildings' planning, designing, construction and use". As building energy conservation is a systems engineering, this paper mainly discusses the energy conservation and the sustainable development strategy for large sports buildings, from the perspectives of architectural design and energy efficient materials selection. INTENT AND OBJECTIVES OF APPLIED RESEARCH This applied research is based on the case study of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games' competition and training venues. As a delegate of the State General Administration of Sports, author B has been participated in the construction process of the two projects that are analyzed in this paper, and is able to apply the project data in the study. Through the study of the use of energy- efficient materials in the design and construction phase, this article analyses the trend of using new energy-efficient materials in large sports architecture in China, and discusses the key factors and techniques for selection of those materials. The impact of using energy-efficient materials on large sports architecture on its daily operation is also discussed. Lastly, it proposes a sustainable strategy for large sports architecture, from architectural design to selection of energy-efficient materials.