Jack Ma becomes emotional as he announces his retirement, shedding tears over the 'Lotus bowl'.
On September 10, 2019, the day of his 55th birthday, Jack Ma officially announced his resignation as Alibaba's executive chairman at the main stadium of Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center, known as the "Lotus Bowl". This was undoubtedly a historic moment in the history of Chinese business.
Over the past two decades since its founding, Alibaba has brought about a revolutionary change that has transformed the way of life for all Chinese people. As Ali employees eagerly anticipated the company's 20th anniversary celebration, excitement filled the air as soon as the banquet lights were turned on and a VCR displayed the collective efforts of everyone at Alibaba. During this annual meeting, Jack Ma was moved to tears while singing "Chasing Dreams of a Child's Heart."
The Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center's main stadium, also known as the Lotus Bowl, is situated on the southern bank of the Qiantang River in Hangzhou. It gained widespread attention during the G20 Hangzhou Summit due to its vibrant and colorful appearance.
With a seating capacity of 80,800, the Lotus Bowl ranks as the third largest sports venue in China, following only the National Stadium "Bird's Nest" and Guangdong Olympic Sports Center Stadium. Despite its massive scale, the unique design of connecting lotus elements to the main structure allows for a significant reduction in steel usage compared to that of the Bird's Nest. As a result, Lotus Bowl's steel structure project was awarded China Steel Structure Gold Medal -the highest honor for national steel structure projects- while its exceptional metal cladding system earned it Building Waterproof Industry Science and Technology Award -Engineering Technology Award (Jin Yu Award) Gold Medal.
The "Lotus Bowl" that will illuminate the opening ceremony of the 2022 Asian Games is set to become a new iconic symbol of Hangzhou's urban development.
The "Lotus Bowl" boasts a total floor area of 216,094 square meters and a roof spread area of 73,000 square meters. The overall roof exhibits intricate and sinuous contours, drawing inspiration from the lush crown vegetation known as the "white lotus flower" found along the Qiantang River. It comprises 28 grandiose "petal" roofs alongside their corresponding smaller counterparts.
The facade of the "Lotus Bowl"
Hoogovens®XT shaped roof system
In order to achieve the effect of "petal", the "Lotus bowl" roof uses twisted space lines, the roof is a complex three-dimensional curved surface, mainly using Hoogoven®XT shaped roof system, commonly known as the waist drum panel system.
The utilization of professional panel arrangement technology, advanced computer programming, precision rolling equipment, and extensive construction experience enables the Hoogovens ®XT shaped roof system to achieve intricate architectural modeling, thereby expanding the possibilities for building shapes.
In terms of technical, architects and structural engineers adopt the construction system of perforated metal panels combined with thin steel rods. In the design of roof panel layout, not only fully consider the reasonable layout of "twisted" roof to realize the feasibility of processing and installation, but also take into account the visual effect of the visible part of the wall. Transform the original rigid steel skeleton into a soft form that echoes the curve of the site, and then weave these beautiful structural systems together in an order to fully realize the designer's creativity.
Hoogovens ®XT special-shaped roof panel rolling equipment
The Hoogovens ®XT special type roof system rolling equipment is among the most advanced roof rolling equipment worldwide. Following precise calculation and layout, on-site rolling of waist drum panels used in "Lotus Bowl" ensures not only the quality of rolled waist drum panels but also reduces damage caused by transportation links while saving transportation time and cost. All wall petals are composed of perforated roof panels with varying perforated diameters. "Lotus Bowl" represents the first project globally to use perforated XT shaped waist drum panels, embodying the wisdom and hard work of various functional teams at Hoogovens.
The Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center has effectively catalyzed the development of the entire region, contributing to a balanced distribution of Hangzhou's urban population on both sides of the Qianjiang River. Its strategic significance is comparable to that of Shanghai Pudong's development and construction wave in the 1990s. If West Lake represents Hangzhou's history and past, it is evident that this colossal sports facility symbolizes an exciting and visionary future.
Some of the above content comes from the Internet
