Beijing’s Makeover

When clocks across china counted down to eight on the evening of 08/08/08, the launch of the games of the XXIX Olympiad, the world's eyes looked upon a new Beijing. In preparation for its moment at the centre of the world stage, the city transformed itself from the forbidding dowager of old to a dazzling young star, decked out in a stunning display of architectural haute couture. Leading Beijing’s glamorous makeover is a quartet of buildings that fuse breakthrough technology and futuristic environmental design with traditional motifs. Their radical urban style embodies China’s three-part Olympic theme: each is environmentally green, high-tech and welcoming.

The Nest

What do you call 36km of crisscrossing steel beams in the shape of a giant basket? Officially, it’s the Beijing National Stadium. Unofficially, it’s the Bird’s Nest. And what a nest: seven tiers of seating will hold 91,000 fans for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as major track and field events.

Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, and Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, drew upon Chinese symbolism for the award-winning design, looking to the bird’s nest – regarded as an object of harmony in the natural world – for their inspiration. Mirroring the way a bird stuffs grass and leaves between twigs when building its nest, the architects have placed an inflatable plastic film, a material known as ETFE, between the steel “twigs” of the stadium to make the Bird’s Nest one of the most ingeniously designed green buildings in the world.

As the 45,000-tonne steel roof was built, it was held up by 78 temporary support columns. When work was finished, the roof and the outer structure were hoisted up by hydraulic power and the supports were removed, then everything was finally lowered onto its permanent foundation.

This magnificent concept didn’t come cheaply – construction costs were a staggering 3.9 billion yuan (about $595 million). Still, Beijingers clearly love this building, voting it the city’s top new landmark in a recent poll conducted by the Beijing News.

The Egg

Take a deep breath: entering the National Centre for the Performing Arts is an underwater adventure for anyone with tickets for a performance in one of its three venues. The building is surrounded by a 35,500-square-metre moat – without a bridge. To get in, ticketholders have to travel through an 80m-long tunnel under the lake on which the huge ovoid structure “floats”. On the other side, they ascend into one of the world’s largest theatre foyers. It’s the anteroom to an opera house that holds 2079, a concert hall seating 1859 and a theatre for 957 more.

Six years in the making, thanks to numerous work stoppages, the centre is the most controversial of Beijing’s new buildings. Measuring 212m long and 144m wide, the titanium-and-glass dome is a pearl to some, a duck’s egg to others. Local architects have voiced concerns that its starkly modern forms and finishes do not mesh with its traditional neighbours – the Great Hall of the People and the green-and-red tiled roofs of the Forbidden City.

French architect Paul Andreu defends his design. “We strove to create a building that shows respect for the buildings around it,” he says, “each of which marks in varying degrees the history of architecture in China, but that demonstrates the vitality of modern architecture by being as bold as they were in their day.”

Despite cost overruns, government officials take great pride in what the building will mean for China. Wang Zhengming, the deputy head of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, told the China Daily that, although the Egg has been a subject of controversy, “it is a new landmark, a cultural symbol of Beijing”.

Clocks across china are counting down to eight on the evening of 08/08/08, the moment when Beijing launches the games of the XXIX Olympiad. In preparation for its moment at the centre of the world stage, the city has transformed itself from the forbidding dowager of old to a dazzling young star, decked out in a stunning display of architectural haute couture. Leading Beijing’s glamorous makeover is a quartet of buildings that fuse breakthrough technology and futuristic environmental design with traditional motifs. Their radical urban style embodies China’s three-part Olympic theme: each is environmentally green, high-tech and welcoming.