Shanghai Hongkou Stadium and Luxun Park

Hongkou Stadium was China’s first professional soccer stadium. Built in the 1990s as a single purpose structure, its transformation repositions the stadium at the center of a new mixed-use health and wellness hub. Currently isolated and empty on non-game days, the stadium offers limited connections to its surroundings. The design strategy began by addressing the lack of connection between the stadium and the abutting Luxun Park. The park’s landscape is extended through the stadium and rises to flow through the building’s public concourses. One of the most significant interventions is the creation of the Midline—an elevated park built upon the infrastructure of the adjacent elevated light rail corridor. The Midline provides uninterrupted pedestrian and bicycle access, and links surrounding neighborhoods with community recreational uses within the stadium. At street level, new shops and restaurants embrace the entrance to the subway and activate the stadium’s main plaza and podium. The stadium’s capacity was expanded to accommodate 50,000 spectators in an optimized seating arrangement. Its 9 levels provide traditional functions like concessions and restrooms while incorporating a diversity of new experiences including a soccer museum, community recreation facilities, and a cantilevered restaurant that offers 360 degree views of the field, the adjacent park, and the Shanghai skyline. Rooftop gardens and outdoor concourses are open to the public, extending access from the adjacent park. Most stadiums sit empty on non-game days and in the off-season. Hongkou Stadium reimagines the arena as a multi-functional complex that fulfills the demands of large events while also serving as a unique public space. With the main concourse integrated as an extension of Luxun Park, the stadium supplements the landscape with vistas across the park to the city beyond. The renovated building is more democratically programmed, and its transparency promotes sustainability. Openings created by the shifted rings offer views into Luxun Park while improving thermal comfort through passive ventilation. Propelled by negative air pressure when hot air generated by the audience rises, the openings siphon cooler air from the park into the stadium. Rainwater runoff is collected and stored in underground cisterns to irrigate the field and replenish lakes in the park. The facade is built from glass that digitally adjust its opacity to minimize passive solar gain and reduce energy consumption. During events, this façade functions as a digital screen to broadcast events, allowing fans without a ticket to the game to watch from the park and plaza, while the plaza is equipped with pavers that harness the movement of pedestrians to generate electricity. To enhance circulation and maximize efficiency during large events, the redesign offers seamless connectivity with the subway and light rail, encouraging public transit use. The stadium’s main concourse is an extension of the park, inviting visitors to explore the adjacent landscape while decentralizing peak foot traffic before and after games. Together, the stadium’s new landscapes increase Luxun Park’s size by 36%, adding more active recreational uses and repositioning Hongkou Stadium as an icon for Shanghai’s growing passion for sports, health, and wellness.