World Games Stadium was built with Feng Shui concepts

World Games Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Currently it is the largest stadium in Taiwan in terms of capacity. The futuristic looking stadium is the first stadium in the world to provide all its own electricity using the power of the sun.

The gigantic 19 hectare structure which has a seating capacity of 40,000, will be used mostly for athletics and rugby events. The main events for the 2009 World Games will be hosted in this stadium. The massive stadium has a 14,155 square meter roof area – every inch of which is covered in solar panels. Moreover, this stadium is notable for its eco-friendliness: the solar panels on the stadium roof generate 1.14 million kWh of electricity per year. So the stadium reduces 660 tons of annual carbon dioxide output. In addition, all the raw materials used in the main stadium are 100% reusable and made in Taiwan. It took over six minutes to power up the lighting in the stadium, which illuminates the track and field with 3,300 lux.

Architect Toyo Ito designed the stadium with Feng Shui in mind. The steel structure resembles a horseshoe, while others say that it looks like dragon. Its unusual semi-spiral shape that imitates a dragon provides a cordial welcome and a cheerful greeting to athletes and spectators with its open-ended structure. The structure’s layout ensures that fans are in the shade for most of the day,and ample open space is available on both sides of the stadium for park land. Furthermore, the planning of the stadium is oriented at north-south direction, with a slight northwest-southeast 15-degree angle; the spiral conforms to the open “C” shape of the stadium. Such design allows the main spectator stand efficiently shelter the field from the southwestern summer wind and the northwestern winter wind. At the same time, such orientation shelters from sunlight, thus providing a more comfortable sport environment.

Ito’s stadium has been called “a wake-up call to Western architects”, but stadiums in the U.S. are becoming increasingly energy efficient. The Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia and the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, became the first NBA and NHL arenas to receive LEED certification last month thanks to an array of initiatives, including energy-efficient underground parking, water-conserving toilets, and carpeting made from recycled materials. American Airlines Arena expects to shave $500,000 off its yearly utility bills as a result of its conservation measures.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. Since its inception in 1998, LEED has grown to encompass more than 14,000 projects in the United States and 30 countries covering 1.062 billion square feet (99 km²) of development area.The hallmark of LEED is that it is an open and transparent process where the technical criteria proposed by the LEED committees are publicly reviewed for approval by the more than 10,000 membership organizations that currently constitute the USGBC.

Green Building Council members, representing every sector of the building industry, developed and continue to refine LEED. The rating system addresses six major areas: