Beijing National Stadium (Bird's Nest/Olympic Stadium)
The Beijing National Stadium,also known as the bird's nest will be the main track and field stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics and will be host to the Opening and Closing ceremonies.In 2002 Government officials engaged architects worldwide in a design competition.Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron collaborated with ArupSport and China Architecture Design & Research Group to win the competition.The stadium will seat as many as 100,000 spectators during the Olympics,but this will be reduced to 80,000 after the games.It has replaced the original intended venue of the Guangdong Olympic Stadium.The stadium is 330 metres long by 220 metres wide,and is 69.2 metres tall.The 250,000 square metre (gross floor area) stadium is to be built with 36 km of unwrapped steel,with a combined weight of 45,000 tonnes.The stadium will cost up to 3.5 billion yuan (422,873,850 USD/ 325,395,593 EUR).The ground was broken in December 2003,and construction started in March 2004,but was halted by the high construction cost in August 2004.
In the new design,the roof of the stadium had been omitted from the design.Experts say that this will make the stadium safer,whilst reducing construction costs.The construction of the Olympic buildings will continue once again in the beginning of 2005.
水立方
With the year of 2007 approaching,good news came from the construction sites of the Olympic projects -- the membrane structure of the outside layer of the National Aquatics Center was completed on the morning of December 26.
Construction of the landmark project,also called the "Water Cube," officially started on December 24,2003.The work on concrete and steel structures was finished in July 2006.On August 1 this year,installation of cushions of membrane structure was officially launched.
With the closure of the outside membrane layer project,the installation of inside cushions will be under way,in a synchronized manner with the indoor fit-up and decoration.Installation of electromechanical equipment and pipes is currently going on and indoor fit-up and decoration will start by the end of the year.The whole project will be completed at the end of 2007.
In accordance with the plan,the venue test event will be launched at the National Aquatics Center in February 2008.
The material of membrane structure is called ETFE,or ethylene-tetra-fluoro-ethylene,used for the first time in China.It is also the largest and most complicated membrane system in a single building project internationally.The construction staff of the National Aquatics Center completed all works and fulfilled the goal as planned after overcoming many difficulties,successfully carrying out membrane structure research and independent innovative construction practice.
