The Jingan Esports Venue occupies the former fourth-floor indoor swimming pool of the Jingan Sports Complex in Shanghai. The adaptive reuse strategy retains the open, column-free condition of the existing structure while responding to a new program centered on competitive digital gaming. Organized around three primary zones—Practice, Compete, and Explore—the layout takes advantage of the existing slab depression to anchor the Compete Zone at the center, with the Practice and Explore Zones positioned symmetrically to either side. A continuous circulation spine connects the zones and establishes a spatial rhythm, supported by a design language that merges digital infrastructure with tactile spatial experience.
The Compete Zone serves as the venue’s central arena, utilizing the pool’s recessed slab to embed a linear stage and stepped spectator seating. Translucent dot-patterned glass panels define the perimeter and maintain visibility between spaces, while integrated LED panels and edge-to-edge projections animate the enclosure with player statistics, team identifiers, and match visuals. The configuration supports the dynamic energy of live competition while allowing the space to operate as a spectator environment with minimal visual interference. As the central node, it also acts as a spatial hinge—maintaining the project’s balance between openness and defined program.
To the east and west of the Compete Zone, the Practice and Explore Zones offer immersive, purpose-built environments. The Practice Zone includes six modular team gaming pods, each scaled to support varying group sizes, from 5 to 30 participants. These pods are paired with six individual rooms for solo training, enabling players to refine skills in private. Spatial arrangement and surface treatment vary across the pods, creating a dynamic field of use while supporting acoustic and visual control. The Explore Zone, by contrast, centers around the Virtual Reality Cocoon—an enclosed GRG structure fabricated from full-height, 1.2-meter-wide panels generated from a digital model. Suspended just above the floor and ceiling, the pixelated, perforated form bulges with controlled energy, distinguishing interior from exterior with absolute clarity. Its smooth white-on-white interior deliberately empties spatial cues, preparing users for immersive VR experiences.
Throughout the venue, circulation and material expression reinforce the project’s conceptual blending of physical and virtual. The main lobby, accessed directly from the building’s elevator core, introduces this duality through a circuit board-inspired fiberoptic floor pattern and a floating glass reception counter, both lit by translucent ceiling and wall panels. The circulation spine—flanked by translucent glass—produces layered reflections that elongate the corridor visually, creating a moment of spatial disorientation. A restrained palette of polished concrete, patterned glass, and enameled white panels serves as both canvas and conduit for projected imagery, fiberoptic lighting, and embedded signage. Even utilitarian spaces, such as the red- and blue-hued restrooms near the Practice and Explore Zones, extend the immersive quality of the program. The result is a venue that challenges conventional architectural boundaries, synthesizing structure, light, and digital content into a cohesive environment for play, training, and spectatorship.
