2008 Beijing Olympics' Venues
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The unique architecture of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Venues make them a large draw for visitors from around the world. The two major stadiums of the 2008 Beijing Olympics are the Beijing National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, and the Beijing National Aquatics Center, known as the Water Cube. They stadiums were designed for use in the 2008 Olympics’ Summer Games, and the Paralympics. They are spectacular feats of engineering and offer fantastic photo opportunities.
The Bird's Nest Stadium was the main stadium of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The opening and closing ceremonies, Track and field, and soccer matches were held inside of it. The stadium occupies an area of 258,000 square meters and can seat 91,000 spectators with the farthest seat being 140 meters (460 feet) away from the center of the playing field. The stadium is 332.3 meters tall at its highest point and the top of the stadium is covered with a film to allow in light, but keep out the weather.
Even before Beijing had been chosen as the host city for the 2008 Olympics, Beijing started bidding for arena designs. The winning bid was chosen from thirteen finalists in April of 2003. It was designed by the Swiss architecture firm of Herzog and de Meuron. The ground breaking ceremony was held in December of 2003 and was officially opened in June of 2008.
The stadium's design was a joint venture between the firm of Herzog & de Meuron, CADG, and artist Ai Weiwei. The stadium’s design is unique in that the exterior “nest” is separate from the interior cement seating bowl by a distance of fifty feet. Over 17,000 workers worked on the stadium at the height of construction and 110,000 tons of steel was used.
Located near the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube was home to the swimming, diving, and synchronized Swimming events of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and saw 25 world records broken. The center had a seating capacity of 17,000 spectators and occupies an area of over 32,000 square meters (7.9) acres. The building is 178 meters (584 feet) long and 31 meters (102 feet) high. It has four floors, the basement level being a service area, the first floor is where the pool is located, the second floor is where the spectators sat and the third floor is for business.
In July of 2003, Bejing had an international architectural competition for the design of the National Aquatic center and the Water Cube’s design was chosen from 10 proposals. The center was designed and built by a consortium of architectural firms from China and Australia. The stadium is octagonal in shape to coincide with the round Bird’s Nest Stadium. Traditionally, in China, round and square designs together represent heaven and earth. Ground was broken for the center in December of 2003 and the aquatics center was completed in January of 2008. The building is composed of a steel frame with a ETFE covering. The look of the center was based on the formations of bubbles in soap lather. The covering has 3,065 “bubbles”, some as large as 9.14 meters (30 feet) across. There are thousands of computer controlled lights inside the covering to allow the building to be lit from within and the colors can change to display different designs and effects.
In October of 2009, the Water Cube was closed to the public to turn a large portion of the center into a water park. It reopened in August of 2010 and has become a favorite spot with locals.
