All great cities have one or several breathtaking buildings or structures that shape the identity of such city as a whole. From great skyscrapers and palaces to museums and monuments, these structures represent visually what the city is on the minds of people. Nobody ever thinks of Paris without having the Eiffel Tower coming to their minds and not one person describes Egypt without mentioning the Pyramids of Giza. However, in modern times, architecture is much more than monuments and sculptures. Nowadays, breathtaking architecture is brought to everyday structures such as residences, museums, convention centers and stadium arenas.
The Beijing National Stadium, one of Herzog & de Meuron masterpieces, transformed Chinese modern architecture and the way people perceived their city, as well as tourism on the surrounding areas because not only the stadium was functional and necessary for the 2008 Olympic Games that would take place in such city but the final product was so impressive that it became an attraction itself.
Much of the interest it causes on the viewers relays on the simplicity yet complexity of the design. The firm management of steel throughout the facade creates an infinite set of questions in the minds of those who stare and it is indeed through those questions that architecture takes meaning. The stadium is well-known for its similar look to an actual Bird’s Nest and this whole architectural concept is transmitted in a much simpler manner to the audience that enjoys and inhabits in this structure. Is it possible to transmit this simple architectural concept as something ordinary people would understand at simple sight? The answer is yes and the result is magnificent. However, the first question that comes to anyone’s mind is not the if but the how.
Herzog & de Meuron together with Ai Wei Wei managed to come up with a design that was both beautiful and functional for the city of Beijing. The stadium is elliptical in plan and is conformed of three separate parts that come together as one to form the overall structure. The initial part of the design is the bowl consisting of the main field and the seating area surrounding the field while going up. The second is the facade that transforms into the third component, the roof of the structure. Each of these parts was strategically built separated from one another so that the design would be able to resist seismic activity (Brown 2009).
Making the arena resistant to seismic activity was one of the hardest challenges the architects had to overcome while working on the design. However, they made it successfully by designing the pieces of the puzzle separately and
Beijing National Stadium facade seen from afar. ultimately joining all together to give life to the structure.
Starting with the bowl, it can be disarmed into six different pieces to prevent it from crashing in case of an earthquake or natural disaster. Seven levels go up from the floor and accommodate the seating area for the spectators. Each level of seats rises one floor with the sole purpose of giving each person in the audience the same view of the field while allowing the architects to solve one big issue they were facing in the site of construction, the ground level imbalance. The elliptical plan also helps with this issue because it allowed them to build the facade going slightly up and down like a wave. The oval shape of the bowl allows to explain the idea of the nest very clearly.
The twisted steel represents the branches that navigate through the nest to form a home for the birds. Similarly, the lines of steel go around the arena to create a structure to host the Olympic Games of 2008. The reason to construct and design an open facade that is only stable by steel is to emphasize the way in which branches are not completely enclosed on a nest and therefore allow ventilation to go inside, where the spectators of the event would be experiencing the games. It contradicts classic architecture in the sense that the openings allows to see the inside from the outside , opposite of the idea of having walls covering the interior space. Its whole purpose was to take the joy and excitement that the games produced and transform it into the same emotions once people entered the arena.
The use of steel as the main material used throughout the facade and the structure as a whole has a lot to do with experimenting a new phase in design and using materials that would blend in with the structure. According to Neil Leach, we are experiencing design where structure is not hidden behind the surface of the design. In his words “Structure is being expressed on the outside and treated as a form of ornamentation. This is not to say that structure is being privileged over ornament. Rather the relationship between structure and ornamentation is being reconfigured so that structure has become ornamental, and ornament structural.” (Leach 2014).
The design of the Bird’s Nest couldn’t be explained better than with Neil Leach’s theory of New Materialism, where the structure and the ornaments become one to provide both elegance and functionality to a design. This can be seen in the facade and roof of the stadium, in which the steel lines are the main part of the structure; they serve as the columns, the supporting walls, they are ornamental but also functional. Although the facade is not directly connected to the bowl, the designer’s team designed the arena in a way that the main stairs of the building come out of the steel columns to go up and around the stadium and finally connect with the bowl and be able to walk to the seats.
The facade’s steel connecting lines are placed very strategically and with much thought. Even when they look like there isn’t any specific direction or pattern with the steel lines, there is. The Arup Journal explained in “The Beijing National Stadium Special Issue” that the steel lines on the facade are arranged in three different categories. The first are for structural support, so that the building can stand on its own; they serve as columns. The second layer of lines is to connect the stairs to the roof, so the connection is actually made from the top down. And finally, the third layer of steel is to connect the first and second layer. Although they get all together and some might mix into just one line, it is possible to blend all three layers and not see the inside process, which makes the design more elaborate and pleasing to the eye(Brown 2009).
Although the design and structure of the Beijing National Stadium is highly pleasing to the eye and a subject of good conversation, the design is not the only interesting thing this stadium has. The construction of this structure brought along significant changes in the politics, tourism, arts and global recognition of Beijing as a city. Many challenges were put in front of this city at the time the Olympic Games of 2008 were decided to take place in such city.
One of the things Herzog & de Meuron tried to incorporate in the design was that even though it was constructed with one specific purpose, that it would prevail over time and stay as a representation of Chinese culture. Nowadays, the stadium serves as a venue for many activities and events, the most important one if that it acts as the house of the Beijing’s Soccer Team. According to BBC News , the stadium was used as a winter temporary theme park that allowed chinese people to enjoy holidays, they stated that “Tons of artificial snow has been brought inside the stadium and around it, to the delight of residents of Chinese capital and tourists”.
Not only it has been used for temporary entertainment but the stadium will once againhost the Winter Olympic Game opening and closing ceremonies for 2022. This expresses the positive acceptance that the stadium has in 2008 and how great impact it had on the city back in the day. The stadium became even before it was constructed, an icon of Chinese culture and a point of reference for the Chinese
Practice of martial arts in from of the Bird’s Nest to represent Chinese culture. people.
Another important fact of the Beijing National Stadium is that Herzog & de Meuron along with Ai Wei Wei really did an stellar job by trying their hardest to make the design as sustainable and environmentally friendly as it was in their hands. A lot is seen trough their ability to bring to life a design that prevents seismic activity and which can be seen in both the bowl and the facade extending to the roof. Some things the designers considerably took into account were the heating conditions around the arena so that the expectators would be comfortable, the ventilation, fire escapes, lighting, among others. It all became a magnificent work of art detailed in every possible way and each possible piece from a part to a bigger picture that what we are able to call The Beijing National Stadium.
The lighting of the structure conforms a new yet attached concept to the whole Bird’s nest idea. Due to the fact that the structure is built from the inside out, the lighting is represented as a way of something magnificent happening on the inside, which is true. By emphasizing the inside of the arena with the lighting that comes out of it, it is implied that the main purpose of the structure happens inside, in this case, the Olympic Games. On the other side, the lighting allows to portray the facade in a different way. By having no source of light on the outside, the color of the steel changes from a light gray on natural light to a red color when it’s night time. This happens because the interior walls of the bowl were painted red and it exports it to the outside.
In context of social use, the arena is well diverse and has more functions to it than only a soccer stadium. Although when originally built it was mainly and only for the purposes of the Olympic Games, the stadium already had plans to become more than just that after the culmination of the main event for which it was constructed. “At Beijing Olympic Stadium the exhibition area was added after the Olympic Games” is stated by Peter Culley, as he explains that they had plans of extending a museum later inside the stadium. Besides achieving its main purpose of been the main stage for the Olympics, it houses one restaurant, four food businesses, three shops, four souvenir shops, one Walt Disney shop and a money-exchange facility inside the stadium (Culley 2015).
The point of making such a great design for the Beijing National Stadium was that after the Olympic Games, the structure could act as reinforcement of Chinese culture. It could be like a rebirth of the city emerging from having a big event that would bring life to it again. It influenced the city on a social level as well as economically because it brought a great load of tourist to it as well as becoming a sight seeing spot for locals of the country.
The Beijing National Stadium brought life to the Chinese panorama and the whole Beijing Olympic Games scene. It quickly became a magnificent point of view in the city and a globally known spot that set Beijing as a tourist place. Its design became known for the fantastic and equally beautiful facade but mostly because of the depth of its concept, a simple Bird’s Nest. Just as a Bird’s Nest becomes a shelter for new born birds and give them a home, the new stadium acted as a shelter for the Olympic Games, but mostly for the Chinese people; for them to feel it like a home, a special place for them, that would in some way revolutionize their city’s story and in some way, the story of the world overall.
Still today, the Bird’s Nest remains open as one of the greatest architectural designs in China and a representation of who they are as a community and city. This structure marked a beginning in modern architecture for China and most likely Asia. There is no doubt that some structures set a path for the site in which it is constructed. For Beijing, it meant a new discovery in their identity as a great city. For the world, it showed that one structure can have a meaningful and powerful impact on any place it is placed. Maybe not because of the fact that the structure is built in an exact place but because of the meaning behind the architecture it brings. In this case, a Bird’s Nest. A simple Bird’s Nest concept that reminded the Chinese people that they could rise up and be great again, as well as a momma bird reminds her little birds that they are taken care of and that everything will be okay. At the end of the day, that is what architecture should be like, warm, caring, able to comfort anyone. The Beijing National Stadium did just that for Beijing, all while providing the city with a breathtaking design that was able to shape the city.