Throughout the 17 days of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, social media around the world buzzed not only with news of events and medals, but also with images of China’s curious array of new and repurposed competition venues. The Big Air Shougang ski slope in particular became something of a meme as images of skiers performing eye-catching tricks mid-air against a cyberpunk industrial backdrop went viral. In the years since the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube were built for the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing, China’s approach to international sports—and to public architecture—evidently has shifted in major ways.
Located on the western outskirts of Beijing, Shougang (or, State Capital Steel) is only a half hour away from the urban center by public transit. The site’s history is intertwined with China’s two Olympics as well as with broader urban development in the capital. Established in 1919, Shougang was one of China’s first steel mills, at its peak producing 10 million tons of iron and steel per year. But following the selection of Beijing to host the 2008 Olympics, and recognizing the need to improve the city’s famously poor air quality, officials gradually relocated steelmaking away from Shougang and fully shuttered the plant in 2010.
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