Beijing National Stadium

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Beijing National Stadium
Bird's Nest

Location	Beijing, People's Republic of China
Broke ground	December 2003
Opened	March 2008
Owner	Government of the People's Republic of China
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	4 billion yuan (~USD $500 million)
Architect	Herzog & de Meuron ArupSport CAG
Tenants	Chinese Olympic Committee 2008 Summer Olympics
Capacity	Olympic Capacity: 91,000 Post Olympic Capacity: 80,000

The Beijing National Stadium (traditional Chinese: 北京國家體育場; simplified Chinese: 北京国家体育场; Hanyu Pinyin: Běijīng Guójiā Tǐyùchǎng; Tongyong Pinyin: Běijīng Guójiā Tǐyùchǎng), also known as the National Stadium,^[1] or the "Bird's Nest" (鳥巢) for its architecture, is a stadium finished for the Olympic Green in Beijing, China that has so far been completed as of March 2008.^[2] The stadium will host the main track and field competitions for the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. It is located east of the Beijing National Aquatics Centre.

1 Design
2 Capacity
3 Events
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Design

Model of the Bird's Nest

In 2002, Government officials engaged architects worldwide in a design competition. Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron collaborated with ArupSport and China Architecture Design & Research Group to win the competition. Contemporary Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, is the Artistic Consultant for design.^[3] The ground was broken on Christmas Eve December 2003, and construction started in March 2004, but was halted by the high construction cost in August 2004 and continued again. In January 2008, concerns about construction working conditions arose when it was revealed that 2 workers had died during the stadium's construction.^[4]

Stadium under construction

[edit] Capacity

South view of the Stadium, May 2008

The stadium can seat as many as 91,000 spectators during the Olympics. The capacity will then be reduced to 80,000 after the Games. It has replaced the original intended venue of the Guangdong Olympic Stadium^{[citation needed]}. The stadium is 330 metres long by 220 metres wide, and is 69.2 metres tall. The stadium uses 258,000 square metres of space and has a usable area of 204,000 square metres. It was built with 36 km of unwrapped steel^{[citation needed]}, with a combined weight of 45,000 tonnes. The stadium has some 11,000 square metres of underground rooms with waterproof walls. The stadium will cost up to 3.5 billion yuan (≈423 million USD).