BEIJING NATIONAL STADIUM : BIRDS NEST

PRESENTATION FOR CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE

SUBMITTED BY
SUKANYA SAHA
1302060
TH
SEMESTER 5
SECTION B
PILOO MODY COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE

INTRODUCTION

FULL NAME : NATIONAL STADIUM

POPULAR NAME: BIRDS NEST
LOCATION : OLYMPIC GREEN ; BEIJING, CHINA
ARCHITECTS: JACQUES HERZOG AND PIERRE DE MEURON ,
AI WEIWEI , LI XINGGANG
ARCHITECTURAL FIRMS : HERZOG AND DE MEURONS,
Mr. Herzog, right, and Mr. de
ARUPSPORT,
Meuron
CHINA ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND
RESEARCH GROUP
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANTS: ARUPSPORT
(The stadium was a joint venture among architects Jacques Herzog
and Pierre de Meuron ofHerzog & de Meuron, project architect
Stefan
Marbach, artistAi
Weiwei,
and2003
CADG
was led 2007
by chief
CONSTRUCTION
PERIOD
: MARCH
TOwhich
SEPTEMBER
architectLi
Xinggang.)
OPENING DATE
: JUNE 28, 2008
PURPOSE FOR CONSTRUCTION: 29th OLYMPIC & PARALYMPIC
GAMES HELD IN BEIJING
IN AUGUST 2008
NO.OF FLOORS; HEIGHT : THREE ; 69 METERS
CAPACITY : ORIGINALLY 100,000 BUT LATER REDUCED TO 91,000
MAJOR STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS: STEEL FRAME ENVELOPE AND
CONCRETE CORE
MAJOR HVAC SYSTEMS: GEOTHERMAL HEATING, NATURAL LIGHTING,
NATURAL
VENTILATION

BEIJING NATIONAL
STADIUM
Designed by the Swiss
architectsJacques Herzogand
Pierre de Meuron, the stadium
lives up to its aspiration as a
global landmark. Its elliptical
latticework shell, which has
earned it the nickname the
Birds Nest.
The centerpiece of a vast Olympic park in the northern reaches of
Beijing, the stadium is raised on a mound of earth to give it a more
monumental presence. Its matrix of crisscrossing columns and beams
was conceived as a gargantuan work of public sculpture. Viewed from a
distance, the contrast between its bent steel columns and its bulging
elliptical form gives the stadium a surreal, moody appearance, as if it
were straining to contain the forces that are pushing and pulling it this
way and that.
Philosophically, it suggests the tensions just beneath the surface of a
society in constant turmoil.

STADIUM LOCATION

& ITS SURROUNDINGS

3D MAP OF THE STADIUM COMPLEX WITH DIFFERENT

IMPORTANT BUILDINGS

KEY PLAN (TOP);

STADIUM SITE
PLAN (RIGHT);
STADIUM TOP
VIEW (LEFT)

ARCHITECTURAL
CONCEPTS

ARCHITECTURAL
STYLE :
styles of

The stadium has been listed under different architectu

which the most important are as follows:

DECONSTRUCTIVISM: an assemblage of unrelated p

to form a building. Each building exhibits a bit of chao

and still
refrains from utter confusion.
EXPRESSIONIST MODERN: describes a type
ofarchitecture which uses theformof a building as a
means to evoke or

express the inner sensitivities and feelings of the view

or the architect.

This tendency can be coupled with the notion that the

form can represent the physical manifestation of a
transpersonal or mystic spirit. The style was
characterised by an earlymodernistadoption of novel materials, formal
innovation, and very
unusual massing, sometimes inspired by natural

CONCEPT BEHIND THE STADIUM

CHINESE CRACKLED
POTTERY

The traditional local element

which influenced the design
was the ancient art of Chinese
crackled pottery.

Li Xinggang, head architect

of CADG; quote on the
design :
Why does a Chinese bowl or a
Chinese window have this kind
of pattern? Maybe the Chinese
people like things to appear in
this irregular way, but

BIOMIMICRY
It is also claimed to be a
biomimicry of
A birds nest where the inner
bowl. Like any other stadia it
was also designed inside out
with the outer steelwork as
final envelope.

Viewed from a distance, the

contrast between the Beijing
National Stadium's bent steel
columns and its bulging elliptical
form gives the it a surreal, moody
appearance, as if it were straining
to contain the forces pushing and
pulling it this way and that.

Clad in puffy, translucent

panels made of a hightech plastic, the Allianz
Arena's doughnut-shaped
form seems to swell from
pressure within. Mr.
Herzog compares it to a
boiling pot.

DESIGN
FEATURES

OUTER STEEL ENVELOPE

The architects, Jacques Herzog
and Pierre de Meuron, designed a
series of cantilevered trusses to
support the roof that shades the
seats. A secondary pattern of
irregular crisscrossing beams is
woven through this frame,
creating the illusion of a gigantic
web of rubber bands straining to
hold the building in place.

EARTHQUAKE RESISTING CAPABILITY

Beijing is located in an
earthquake zone.
By building the stadium in two
separate parts, a steel lattice
structure and a concrete bowl
separated by 50ft; the designers
were able to create a structure
flexible
enough
to athletic
handle fields
The seats
and the
considerable
activity.
are housed inseismic
the inner
concrete
bowl, similar to an egg in a
birds nest.
The stands that hold spectators,
were constructed as eight
different zones.
Each section of the bowl is like
a building, there are eight
different buildings all working
together each with their own
stability system.
The birds nest is prepared to
withstand an earthquake of up
to magnitude 8 on the Richter

The outer steel work and the concrete core

Top, The outer steel work;

during const. Right the seismic

THE ROOF AND OUTER COVERING

The red and white seat colours

help to give the optical illusion of
the stadium being full even when it
is not.