UCD Design Works | A New Sports Landmark in the Sub-Center: The Six Ring Elevated Urban Sports Park Officially Opens 

Recently, the Six Ring Elevated Urban Sports Park, designed by UCD, officially opened to the public. Located in Beijing’s Sub-Center and covering an area of 140,000 square meters, this park has become a new urban sports landmark that integrates sports, leisure, and supporting services.

 Delving into the cultural lineage of the Luxian Ancient City Ruins and the site’s unique highway memories, the design team adhered to the core philosophy of “Stitching the City, Empowering the Ecosystem, and Benefiting All People.” By seamlessly weaving cultural experiences with diverse sports functions, they successfully translated an urban renewal blueprint into a public space to wander, play, and experience.

 Set within a framework of expansive open green spaces, the park’s sports facilities include one standard 11-a-side football pitch with FIFA certification, nine hardcourt tennis courts with ITF certification, four 5-a-side football pitches, four outdoor basketball courts, and four pickleball courts. In addition, the park features a light-aerobic jogging track, a multi-functional activity lawn, and under-forest fitness spaces. It accommodates diverse scenarios such as daily relaxation, professional sports events, and cultural study tours, effectively addressing the recreational needs of all age groups.

 Adhering to the principles of adaptive reuse, urban stitching, and avoiding large-scale demolition, the project fully respects the original texture of the site while integrating sports functions, ecological greenery, and supporting services. It preserves native old trees to the maximum extent, combining them with seasonal green landscaping to create a unique characteristic of “courts hidden in the forest and greenery encircling the playing fields.” Integrating the Sponge City philosophy, the design adopts techniques including sunken water-retention spaces, grass swales, and permeable pavements. This enables natural storage, infiltration, and purification of rainwater, empowering the site with a self-sustaining ecological resilience.

 The design goes beyond merely shaping physical spaces; it coordinates post-stage operations in advance to create diversified immersive experience scenes. Anchored by the KUKURUN Fitness Run as its core IP, the park features fun-filled challenge tracks and themed photo-opportunity spots. The family-friendly zone introduces interactive experiences such as botanical leaf stamping, interactive football games, and sports face painting. Together with regular cultural and creative pop-up markets alongside light-dining options, the hub successfully builds a composite operational model of “Sports Games + Markets + Family + Sunsets.” The park features multiple strategic entrance gates designed to connect effortlessly with the main part of the Elevated Urban Sports Park in the future. This layout will deliver an immersive experience where citizens can “exercise while strolling the park, and continue to explore the Elevated Urban Sports Park right after.”

 From an old highway embankment that once split the city, to a vibrant forest-themed sports park buzzing with the rhythm of daily life, UCD leverages the transformative power of design to stitch urban spaces together. By fostering a harmonious symbiosis of ecology, sports, and urban living, the park invites citizens to sweat under the forest canopy and immerse themselves in nature, allowing everyone to truly experience the well-being brought by urban renewal.