Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Sino-Swiss Scheme Favored as Main Sports Venue for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
The National Stadium of China, the main sports venue for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, has finally boiled down to the scheme designed by Swiss architect in cooperation with the China Architecture Design Institute as final one for implementation.
Sino-Swiss Scheme Favored as Main Sports Venue for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
The National Stadium of China, the main sports venue for Beijing2008 Olympic Games, has finally boiled down to the scheme designed by Swiss architect in cooperation with the China Architecture Design Institute as final one for implementation.
This blueprint as designed by Swiss architect Herzog & De Meuron, a Pritzker prize owner in cooperation with China Architecture Design Institute stood out from 13 competition schemes and was highly recommended by the evaluation panel as the design for implementation when winning overwhelming recognition. After a careful study by decision-making departments, this scheme was at present identified as the eventual one for the National Stadium for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
This giant stadium is outwardly shaped like a nest, which encloses a brown bowl-like stadium of ore-gray steel-truss walls coated with transparent film materials. It looks much like the Imperial Palaces with purplish walls seated in grayish massive city walls, demonstrating the connotative esthetics of the orient.
This scheme, making the interior stairs for sightseeing as extension of exterior truss, presents an image of pureness, while the landform outside the sports venue is raised up to four meters high. The inside is rendered as an auxiliary facility, thereby avoiding the massive cost of underground earthwork. The raised land declines gently by the rims of an outdoor square, which accordingly provides two thousand open seats in the warming-up area, thereby cutting down again the cost while presenting quite a natural environment. The evaluation panel believes that the scheme stands out a milestone in the world architecture history.
Sources say, the National Stadium will start its construction at 10 am, December 24 according to the timetable. And likewise the construction of the National Swimming Center, another epic Olympic facility now under design competition is also to be kicked off at 10 am, December 12. It indicates that the construction for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will then enter into substantial startup stage.