Sports aesthetics for urban landscape

4A Sports Park in Tianjin

published in sb magazine 4/2024 

Interactive environmental elements, the pleasure of playful learning, and a close relationship to nature are key at 4A Sports Park, invented by multidisciplinary design firm Ballistic Architecture Machine (BAM). Conventional ideas about urban landscapes are challenged with the action-packed design for this sports park in the city of Tianjin in China. The innovative approach is to embed learning environments in public spaces through play, and to rethink the role of parks in dense cities and reimagine our relationship with nature. 
 

The design team was initially taken with the site history which included a temple and small town called Yixing town. Today, the site is a modern city built over the remains of historical Yixing, a town with a remarkable connection to another Yixing town in Jiangsu province. With the construction of the Grand Canal, the residents of Yixing moved their entire village and reconstructed a facsimile to the north of Tianjin city. While this historical town was destroyed, the urban plan of the original Yixing was utilized as a pattern for the Sports Park, resurfacing the lost history and giving it back to the community in a contemporary form.