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NATIONAL STADIUM, BEIJING
At the pinnacle of its construction, the National Stadium in Beijing had 7,000 workers toiling over the infrastructure.
The stadium has become known as the ‘Bird’s Nest’ because of its wicker-like architecture and has been described as the 21st century equivalent of the Great Wall of China. It was completed in March 2008 and was not an easy task to complete, with a huge bowl needing to be filled with concrete to seat over 90,000 people and metal columns and beams that weigh over 350 tonnes, hoisted by cranes of 300 feet to form a lattice of interwoven steel.
There are 24 main columns, each weighing over 1,000 tonnes each, which were systematically put in place with complete precision, but designed to look like a random pattern. The designer of the stadium was a Swiss company called Herzog and DeMeuron and the Chinese Architecture Design Institute. In order to find a suitable candidate, government officials organised the Pritzer Prize which was launched in 2002 and the respected organisations won the merit of their peers. The artistic consultant for the design was a Chinese artist named Ai Weiwei. Construction started in March 2004, however it took a total of four years to complete due to a delay caused by the high cost of construction.
The measurements of the stadium are impressive, running 330 metres in length by 220 metres in width and spanning a total of 69.2 metres tall. That equates to a total of 258,00 square metres of space and the length of 36 kilometres of unwrapped steel with an overall combined weight of 45,000 tonnes. Taking all of these facts into account it is no surprise architect Jacques Herzog thinks it is the most remarkable piece of architecture they have ever designed. It surely warrants being credit as one of modern time’s greatest monuments and a credit to the 2008 Olympics.
STATISTICS
Venue: National Stadium
Designer: Herzog and DeMeuron and China Architecture Design Institute
Total Land Surface: 258,000sq m
Overall Weight: 45,000 tonnes
Permanent Seats: 80,000
Temporary Seats: 11,000
Competitions: Athletics and Football
Post-Games Use: Sports, cultural and entertainment activities
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