Li Xinggang was the Chinese design host of the “Bird’s Nest”, the main venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and later served as the chief designer of the Yanqing competition area of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. In 2023, he was elected as an academician of the CAE Member. When it comes to the design concept of the “Double Olympics” venues in Beijing, he said that during the operation planning and architectural design stages, these venues need to consider the issue of “combining level matches”. They should not only meet the competitive needs of athletes, but also achieve rapid post match transformation to meet the sports and leisure service needs of the public..
In his design work, Li Xinggang has always pursued the beauty of coexistence between nature and architecture. He said that the characteristic of ice and snow sports is that they are mostly conducted outdoors, and excellent ice and snow architectural design can allow people to experience the joy of intimate contact with nature..
Taking the Yanqing competition area of the Beijing Winter Olympics as an example, venue facilities such as “Snow Dragon” and “Snow Swallow” are partially hidden and partially exposed in the mountains and forests, blending with the environment. Li Xinggang said that the Yanqing competition area is more like a large-scale “landscape map” that people can experience firsthand, built in real natural mountains and forests, allowing poetry to be reproduced in the experience of public ice and snow sports and leisure activities..
Li Xinggang stated that provinces in Northeast China, Xinjiang and other regions have beautiful natural environments and abundant ice and snow resources. When developing ice and snow projects and designing ice and snow buildings, it is necessary to integrate artificial and natural elements, make good use of local natural and climatic conditions, and not easily destroy the beauty of nature. People should also be able to enjoy natural scenery and enhance their spiritual experience while exercising and playing..