BEIJING'S OLYMPIC STADIUM

by Herzog and DeMeuron

a birds nest into.



.a stadium
INTRODUCTION
Beijing National Stadium is located at north 4th ring of Beijing city, on the south part of the
Beijing Olympic Green. It was designed by the Pritzer-Prize-winning
Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Piere de Meuron, with artist consultantAi Weiwei. It is
commonly known as the Birds Nest.
Ten cities submitted bids to host the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, five of which
made the IOC Executive Committee's shortlist. On July 13, 2001 The IOC president Juan
Antonio Samaranch announced that the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games would be
Beijing. It would be a national event and a symbolic showcase through which the central
government of China would demonstrate to the world the country's economic achievements.
In 2002, the Beijing Municipal Planning Commission held an international competition for
the design of the main stadium. As the building would host the opening and closing
ceremonies, as well as the track and field events, the original competition brief included the
following main criteria (Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad,
2002):
A stadium capacity of approximately 100,000 people during the games (to be reduced to
approximately 80 000 afterwards).
A multi-functional design, to efficiently incorporate a range of uses in the future.
An emphasis on green building and advanced technology.
The design teams invited to take part in the competition included eight teams from outside
China, three joint venturesand two Chinese design institutes (Xuefei R. 2008pages 175-1
90). All 13 competition schemes were displayed at the Beijing Exhibition Centre in March
2003, attracting thousands of visitors. At the end of the exhibition, it was announced that the
Birds Nest scheme had been selected, both by the jury and by public voting (Tony C 2009,
P5-P8).
The winning design emphasised the pure shape of the stadium, with its interwoven grid-like
structures producing a dramatic visual effect. The BMPC praised the design commenting
that 'the pure, simple and powerful building shape blends all into a harmonious whole,
and the entire building gives a strong sense of dynamics and vigor." (Beijing Municipal
Planning Commission. 2004)
At the time the architectural competition for the Beijing National Stadium was announced,
Herzog & de Meuron and ArupSport (Arup's multidisciplinary practice specialising in
sports architecture) were already working together on the Allianz Arena in Munich. This
successful creative partnership was based on a shared desire to innovate, Herzog & de
Meuron creating unique buildings with strong local cultural context, and Arup designing
stadiums that would perform for spectators, athletes, and operators.

SITE LAYOUT
To understand just how important the Beijing Olympics are to China, you have only to look
at where the Olympic Green has been built. " (Architectural Influence, 2009). The National
Stadium is located in the southern part of the Olympic Green, masterplanned by Sasaki
Associates and covers an area on the north side of Beijing close to the city's central axis.
The Stadium is the centrepiece of the Olympic Green, on an irregular quadrangle of
approximately 20.4ha. As the Aurp Journal stated, the terrain is relatively flat, with ground
elevations ranging from 42m to 47m, highest at the south-west corner and lowest at the
north-east corner. The position was chosen so that there would be a gradual rise in level
from the city roads in the north-east, forming a gentle slope up to the stadium plinth. The
plinth connects to the main concourse, level 1 of the stadium. (The Aurp Journal, 2009)
DESIGN
Though the Beijing National Stadium is often known as the Birds Nest, the original
inspiration was actually from a combination of local Chinese art forms - the crackle glazed
pottery that is local to Beijing, and the heavily veined Chinese scholar stones. However
when the artist Ai WeiWel first saw the proposal he quickly drew a bird in a tree. A
panelised approach gave way to infinite lines of structure and the name Birds Nest quickly
became synonymous with the project.
Like most modern stadia, the Bird's Nest was designed 'inside out', beginning with the
competitive field in the centre and then the seating stands around it for 91,000 spectators,
designed to promote an exciting atmosphere that would spur athletes on to deliver top
performances. The tiered seating is arranged with as few gaps as possible to preserve a
homogeneous impression. The distinctive lines of the underside of the roof are concealed
behind acoustic panels so that spectators can concentrate on the competitive field.
Every game has its own thrilling 'I was there' moments, when athletes perform miracles
and new records are set. The team wanted to create a stadium that would harness and
amplify this excitement in the way the world's best loved venues do." (J Parrish. 2009, p8-
plO) The architects' ambition was to create not only an instantly recognisable symbol of
China's culture, but also the most exciting stadium in Olympic history. The form of the bowl
and the distribution of seating largely determine the other design aspects of the stadium,
including the shape and structure of the roof, the levels and locations of the concourses and
premium facilities, and the amount of natural light and ventilation reaching the competitive
field. The team worked closely with the international Olympic and local organising
committees to streamline and rationalise the on-field facilities. The result is a more compact
bowl with less distance between the spectators and the track.
A skilful balancing of several key criteria is involved in this project. Most importantly,
spectators want to be as close as possible to the action and to have a good view of the
field, while the stadium developer needs to accommodate a certain number of seats within a
defined budget. These requirements often conflict, and as Parrish said, 'Even a tiny
adjustment to the configuration of the seats can have a huge impact on the overall design
and cost of the building'.
Creating a stadium that will be both an athletic and a soccer venue is always a challenge,
'Athletics fields are bigger than football pitches, which means that spectators in the
stands are further away from the action. Consequently, people in the upper tiers may not be
able to see the ball on the pitch, and the atmosphere - which is so important to a soccer
crowd - may be seriously diluted"
By using powerful software, designers can quickly generate the initial form of a stadium
within defined parameters such as geometric constraints, environmental criteria, and the
limitations of construction materials. Having produced the initial concept, the architect can
quickly explore and test options by adjusting variables such as the height of a row of seats.
The Architects used their own specialist parametric modelling software to develop a bowl
geometry optimised for Olympic athletics that would also work well for soccer in legacy
mode. The team produced 33 versions of the design to fine-tune the form of the bowl. They
decided that this landmark stadium should have the same distinctive external form in both
Olympic and legacy modes, and so the temporary additional seating needed to be
accommodated within the main envelope. The temporary seats, which are mainly to the rear
of the top tier, have the least-favourable views and are located in zones that can be
converted to other revenue- generating use in the legacy mode.

FAADE / ROOF
The stadium has a gross volume of three million cubic metres and is considered to be the
world's largest enclosed space (Arup journal).
The bowl and external form of the Stadium were developed in parallel, with Herzog & de
Meuron working on the faade and roof while Arup defined the size of the bowl and
proposed an optimised roof structure. The load-bearing frame for the stadium looks chaotic
without any hierarchy of structure, but it is in fact very rigorously designed. There are 24
portal girders aligned in a very regular pattern. This primary structure is divided at irregular
intervals by secondary structures. The Arup journal (1/2009) states that: the seemingly
accidental arrangement of steel members that forms the envelope makes it almost
impossible to distinguish between the primary structural elements supporting the roof, the
secondary staircase structures, and the tertiary elements that add to the random effect.
The roof structure spans a 313m x 266m space, closely enveloping the bowl and
concourses to form both faade and roof, The faade incorporates the stadiums main
staircases. The result is a compact and sinuous external form uninterrupted by masts,
arches or stair cores. While the faade is open, a roof covering made of single-
layer ETFEmembranes stretched between the steelwork sections protects the spectators
from wind and rain.
The steel structure is painted light grey, contrasting with the red-painted external concrete
wall of the bowl, which is clearly visible through the faade. This creates a variety of
impressive visual effects, particularly when lit at night.
The Birds Nest was described in the Times of London as the world's most conic building in
this decade of iconic buildings". It now operates as a major tourist attraction and serves as
the centre of international and domestic sports competition and recreation activities.

The mythology:
The spectacular Bird's Nest stadium, hailed as the finest arena in the world and the
centrepiece of the most expensive Olympics in history, is full of hidden symbolism.
In Chinese mythology, the sun is represented by a circle and the moon by a square,
reflected by the shape of the bird's nest and the Water Cube aquatic centre opposite,
reinforced when the venues are lit at night, red for the Bird's Nest and blue for the Water
Cube.
The shapes also echo the Chinese symbols for male and female, and are built either
side of the north-south axis road which runs in a perfect straight line for three miles
through Beijing, centred on the Forbidden City.

The design:
Designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, the stadium has a revolutionary
design, which was chosen at the end of a six month long international competition.
Itcomprises an outer skeleton of 42,000 tons of steel, making it three times as heavy as
the proposed London 2012 stadium, and an inner 'skin' of double-layered plastic which
keeps out wind and rain and filters out UVA light.
It is designed to last for 100 years and withstand a force eight magnitude earthquake.
Architectural critics have said the National Stadium, to use its official name, sets
standards of construction which may not be surpassed for decades.
Until they designed the Bird's Nest, Herzog & de Meuron were best known for
converting London's Bankside power station into Tate Modern and for designing the
tyre-shaped Allianz Arena in Munich for the 2006 World Cup.

The design resembling a birds nest was inspired from the art of Chinese ceramics and
its purpose is to leave the spectators wondering which aspects of the structure are
functional and which are only included for design purposes.

The stadium is located in the Olympic Green and one of the main ideas behind the
design was to create an icon for China and the city of Beijing. The shape was chosen so
that it would express something related to the Chinese traditions and culture; its circular
form represents Heaven while the adjacent square resembles the Chinese symbol for
Earth. The consultant for the making of this complex shape was Chinese artist Ai
Weiwei.

Beijing National Stadium was a joint venture among architects Jacques Herzog and
Pierre de Meuron of Herzog & de Meuron, project architect Stefan Marbach, artist Ai
Weiwei, and CADG which was led by chief architect Li Xinggang. In order to achieve the
design of a stadium that was porous while also being a collective building, a public
vessel, the team studied Chinese ceramics. These to main conceptual ideas gave birth
to the nest scheme. The stadium consists of two independent structures, standing 50
feet apart: a red concrete seating bowl and the outer steel frame around it.

The retractable roof required a complex steel structure which was either covered or kept
just the way it was as part of the design. The team developed random-looking
additional steel to blend the supports into the rest of the stadium. In spite of the random
appearance, each half of the stadium is nearly identical and together, they complete the
design and make it look like a single, unitary shape. Due to the seismic activity in the
area the architects decided to remove the retractable roof along with 9,000 seats from
the design. The ensemble was lightened and the costs were reduced dramatically too.

Earthquake resistance of Beijing National stadium
As China is surrounded by some of the deadliest fault lines, the stadium had to be
earthquake proof. The building structure of Beijing Olympics stadium had to pass
vigorous seismic tests. J. Parrish was given the responsibility of making the Birds nest
earthquake proof. The immediate problem was that the stadium was so large that it
would not shake uniformly altogether with the same frequency. J. Parrish came up with
the solution to construct concrete bow in parts, then surround it with metal bow.
Dividing the concrete building structure of Beijing stadium into 6 parts was the key to
safety. Being isolated, each part could move flexibly and independently in earthquake
so that it could absorb the energy by its free movement, instead of being broken into
pieces by this energy. Then it was to be surrounded by metal bow. So that, if in the
worst case concrete fails, the steel would be unaffected and would support the structure
frame.

National Stadium (Birds Nest)
The Chinese National Stadium was the 2008 Olympic Games most striking structure,
recognized all over the world. The buildings dynamic form and vast scale create a new
icon for China and the city of Beijing.
The circular shape of the stadium represents 'heaven', while the adjacent square form
of the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube), also design-engineered by Arup, is a
reflection of the Chinese symbol for Earth.
The structural form of the stadium is popularly described as a 'birds nest', with its
pattern inspired by Chinese-style 'crazed pottery'. Seemingly random, the pattern
abides by complex rules for which advanced geometry was defined.
To ensure a compact and optimum design, the seating bowl was established first, with
the outer faade wrapping around it. The design ensures that all spectators are as close
as possible to the action and have clear sight lines.
As Beijing is located in one of the worlds most active seismic zones, Arup used
advanced seismic analysis to test the stadium under various earthquake conditions and
ensure that the structure can withstand major shocks.


Prior to the opening of the Beijing National
Stadium, the stadium was already considered
an icon for Beijing and a symbol for modern
China.


The Beijing National Stadium is one of the most imposing stadiums in the world and its
apparently casual structure has immediately conquered the people of Beijing who
renamed it The Birds Nest for the complex geometry of the outer faade.



The stadium was projected by architects
Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with
ArupSport and China Architecture Design &
Research Group to host the 2008 Olympic
Games. It had a total spectator capacity of
91 000 but was reduced to 80 000 after the
Olympic event.




The stadium is characterized by a large
concrete structure supporting the tiers laid in
an imposing independent steel structure that
represents both the faade and the roof that
looks like a interweaved net of beams made
of steel.





The structure made of steel is actually the
result of a complex geometry, based on a
main structure of 24 pillars and
characterized by curving beams that
disappear in the ground, reappear along the
entire faade of the stadium and curve to
tangentially go towards the central opening
of the roof. The structure is completed by a
series of secondary beams and contains
more than 7 500 separate elements,
mounting to a total weight of 42 tons and a
total length of 36 km. In accordance with the
design complexity, the stadium also required special attention to an increased risk of
earthquakes that are common in Beijing.


A semitransparent membrane called EFTA
was inserted between the several beams of
steel that the roof is rich of. This membrane
enables the sunlight to go through and to
offer the stadium a sense of lightness (which
is one the typical concepts of the Birds
Nest).



According to Chinese symbolism, when seen in
contraposition from the nearby National
Aquatics Centre (the new Olympic venue for
water sports), the circular shape of the stadium
represents paradise, while the quadratic form of
the National Aquatics Centre (also known as the
Water Cube) represents the earth.