With the booming development of China's sports industry, more and more inflatable venues are appearing in people's sight. At the recently concluded 2016 China International Sports Goods Expo, the China Sports Goods Federation officially released the "White Paper on China's Sports Air Film Industry" to the entire industry. The White Paper on China's Sports Membrane Industry points out that since the construction of a membrane building in 2006, the number of membrane venues in China has been increasing over the past decade. As of 2015, in the four application fields of sports, commercial entertainment, industry, and logistics, sports accounted for 60% and the number of projects reached 133, which were used in sports venues such as badminton, table tennis, basketball, and tennis.

Why do many sports venues adopt the new architectural form of air film? How is the current usage of gas film sports venues? How do users feel? The reporter interviewed several managers of sports venues that use gas film to understand the application of gas film buildings in sports venues.

Simple approval procedures

In China, temporary facilities refer to temporary or other buildings that cannot be used continuously, and most of them need to be demolished and cleaned up within their usable period.

It is understood that the relevant departments currently classify gas membrane structure buildings as temporary facilities and do not belong to construction projects. This indicates that there is no need to apply for a construction project planning permit before the start of the membrane building construction, and the design and installation units do not need to have corresponding qualifications. The project acceptance is the responsibility of the construction unit and the owner themselves.

In theory, the service life of gas film buildings that have passed acceptance inspection is 20-30 years. Undoubtedly, the absence of engineering approval process for membrane buildings implies a lack of industry standards and management mechanisms, leading to a mixed market; But from another perspective, in the current development of the sports industry, the simple approval procedures for gas film buildings have also solved the problems of difficult approval, long cycle, and high threshold for the construction of sports venues. It is very helpful for building diverse sports venues and increasing the per capita sports venue area.

Low construction cost and short time

The White Paper mentions that the cost of membrane construction is lower than that of traditional structural buildings, about half of the cost of traditional sports venues. The annual operating cost is about one-third of that of traditional sports venues, and the cost of capital return is about half of that of traditional sports venues.

In addition, the processing and production design of the membrane construction project can be completed in the factory, and only installation operations are carried out on site. It can be completed within 3 months from design, equipment procurement to processing. After arriving at the site, the main building can generally be installed in about 10 days.

This characteristic of air film architecture has been confirmed in a project of an air film tennis hall and badminton hall located within the Fourth Ring Road in Beijing. The building area of the museum is over 1600 square meters, with a total investment of about 5 million yuan, including about 3.5 million yuan for the membrane building, and a construction period of 3 months. After formal operation, the annual rental income of the venue is about 3-3.5 million yuan, the operating cost is about 1.5 million yuan, and the expected investment recovery is 21-28 months. For traditional structural buildings with the same building area, the total investment is about 9 million yuan, of which the construction cost is about 7 million yuan, the annual operating cost of the venue is about 2 million yuan, and the expected investment recovery is 56-84 months.

Zhu Chunyu, the person in charge of the Olympic Forest Park National Tennis Indoor Air Membrane Double Tennis Hall, said that the air membrane hall was built in 2012 and adopts a lightweight membrane structure without steel beams. There is an automated management system to regulate the tennis hall, and adjust parameters such as temperature, humidity, air pressure, and air volume inside the hall.

Zhu Chunyu told reporters that the indoor tennis court adopts air membrane architecture because he saw many characteristics of the use of air membrane architecture in Chaoyang Park tennis court and badminton court. Air membrane architecture has lower construction costs and maintenance costs compared to traditional architecture. The tennis court has been in good condition since its opening, and our staff can complete daily maintenance. Equipment maintenance and repair are all handled by the supplier Beijing Yodun Air Membrane Architecture Co., Ltd., with very low costs of use and maintenance, "said Zhu Chunyu.

Air film buildings have a good indoor environment and low usage costs

Li Qingtao said that parents in Beijing value the function of membrane buildings in filtering air and resisting haze.

It is understood that the air filtration system in the membrane venue can control the indoor temperature and humidity, providing a good indoor environment; At the same time, the air exchange and purification device can resist PM2.5 and ensure the air quality inside the museum even on hazy days. The gas film venue also adopts glare free lighting, utilizing the high reflectivity of film materials to increase the utilization of natural light, providing uniform and non dazzling lighting effects for the gymnasium. The integrated design increases the energy efficiency of the supporting facilities in the gas membrane museum.

Liang Dong, the general manager of Xinyan Tengfei Sports Development Co., Ltd., is an investor in a sports venue in Tongzhou, Beijing. He has invested in a comprehensive sports venue with an area of about 8000m2, which adopts an air membrane building. The air membrane is divided into several areas such as tennis, badminton, basketball, etc. with a fence inside.

Liang Dong bluntly told reporters that based on the feedback from customers, the air membrane venue is indeed more popular than the traditional brick and concrete structure venue. On the one hand, membrane architecture is an integrated system that solves problems such as air purification, steam temperature regulation, and final lighting, without the need for us to purchase additional supporting facilities. On the other hand, customers' aesthetic preferences for sports venues are also changing. They prefer simple and bright environments without complicated decoration, and the interior decoration of membrane buildings perfectly meets their aesthetic needs for sports venues. In other words, it saves money

Cooling, heating, lighting, etc. are the main expenses for venue operation. Some people estimate that the annual energy consumption of a 4000m2 membrane venue is 300000 yuan, which is one-third of that of an ordinary building; The average monthly energy consumption of a nearly 2000m2 gas film production and management venue is about 10000 yuan.

For us investors, choosing to build a gas film venue has a relatively simple approval process, short construction period, low cost, low maintenance and usage fees, and customers like it very much. It is a high-yield thing, "said Liang Dong.

Flexible utilization of scattered land

For large cities with uncertain lease terms and limited land resources, membrane structure buildings are considered transferable structures that can reduce land, storage, and transportation costs.

For the changes in the market, popular sports events and fitness methods are constantly being updated, and sports venues and facilities also need to be updated accordingly. Air membrane structure buildings can be disassembled and moved as a whole, with flexible building areas, and sports venues can be built on different types of land.

Liang Dong expressed that as a community owner and parent, he hopes that the community and learning venues can utilize scattered and idle land during the construction process to create more sports activity spaces for residents and children.

The sales offices of commercial residential buildings are all temporary buildings that need to be demolished after the project sales are completed. If the land use needs to be changed, it needs to be approved and rebuilt, causing waste. Liang Dong suggested that developers can incorporate sports facilities into community planning at the beginning of the project, and flexibly use idle land in the community. The use of gas film venues can conveniently and quickly provide more sports activity space in the community.

Recently, the "Medium - and Long Term Development Plan for Chinese Football (2016-2050)" was officially issued, which encourages the construction of new residential areas and community supporting football fields, supports the renovation of existing facilities in old urban areas and existing residential areas, and increases football activity space. The introduction of the plan undoubtedly releases market space for gas film football stadiums.

In business, the demands of customers are our pursuit, "said Liang Dong. Gas membrane venues have low cost and good performance, and the use of gas membrane buildings in sports venues is a market driven choice.