The 2008 Olympics begin on 8/8/08 and Beijing is tidying up the streets and has almost finished the two Olympic venues. The first, the main Olympic stadium to house the Ground sports has been nicknamed the “bird’s nest” and cost China 4 billion yuan or $500 million U.S dollars. The stadium was designed in a worldwide competition in 2002 and the designers were Herzog & de Meuron with Arup Sport and China Architecture Design & Research Group. the second Olympic stadium, The Water Cube, is the place where they will be housing the swimming sports. The water cube was designed by PTW architects, CSCEC and a number of others. The entire Cube is covered in ETFE, a kind of fabric that lets in 30% more light and heat than glass, making it a cost-effective investment. The ETFE is also made to withstand earthquakes so the it will not shatter like glass. The water cube cost about 1 billion Yuan, a quarter of the cost of the “Bird’s Nest”.
The Birds Nest [left]
