About those cooling towers next to big air events …

The Big Air Shougang Park, the only venue for a snow event in downtown Beijing, is part of an urban redevelopment project and is described by Olympics officials as the world’s first permanent venue for big air.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesThe most striking venue at the Games sits in the formerly industrial western edge of Beijing. There, the towering ski jump for big air events is juxtaposed by four large, drab concrete cooling towers from an old steelworks that to many viewers looks like something from a nuclear plant.

The Big Air Shougang Park, the only venue for a snow event in downtown Beijing, is part of an urban redevelopment project and is described by Olympics officials as…