Natatorium of Southeast University Sports Centre

Qi Zhou's Natatorium of Southeast University Sports Centre exemplifies a distinctive synthesis of structural expressionism and contextual sensitivity that positions this work within contemporary dialogues surrounding athletic architecture and institutional placemaking. The repetitive parabolic arch system demonstrates sophisticated understanding of structural efficiency, where the pointed profile optimizes load distribution while simultaneously creating visual rhythm that transforms utilitarian program into architectural experience. The material palette negotiates between universal modernist language and regional building traditions through the juxtaposition of board-formed concrete, bearing witness to its liquid origins through subtle surface variations, with terracotta roof tiles that reference centuries of ceramic craft and climatic adaptation. This chromatic conversation between the cool neutrality of cementite gray and the earthen warmth of fired clay suggests thoughtful mediation between technological progress and cultural continuity. The fenestration strategy maximizes natural illumination for the aquatic program within while articulating each structural bay as a distinct spatial unit, creating legible architectural grammar. The sculptural treatment of each arch's termination, curving gracefully outward before meeting the ground plane, demonstrates attention to experiential detail that elevates functional infrastructure to the realm of civic art. Surrounding landscape elements, including bamboo groves and mature shade trees, establish dialogue between built and natural systems that enhances both environmental performance and phenomenological richness. Viewers might contemplate how architectural form can simultaneously serve athletic function, express structural truth, and contribute to campus identity through memorable formal gesture.

The Natatorium of Southeast University is located on the Jiulonghu Campus. The design uses continuous arches to eliminate the sense of alienation from the volume, like a flower, woven together in 7 repeating forms. Fluid water, moving people and static buildings, gray concrete and blue water, sunlight refracted by louvers, and shadows formed by geometry, all of which stimulate a strong sense of place. The structure is in line with the mechanical requirements, and the facade uses a large area of glazing, which forms an interaction between behaviors and sights of the people inside and outside.