Beauty Behind Amber: July 2008

Bird's Nest "December 2003"

China "Bird's Nest" Now

The "Bird's Nest" of 2008 China Olympics is now completed and waiting for foreign athletes. The National Stadium is nicknamed the "Bird's Nest" for its resemblance to the twigs a bird piles together to form their nests. After 5 years since December 2003 now the new Olympic venue is completed. It is located in the Olympic Green and occupies 21.4 hectares. This will serve as the main venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The National Stadium is 68 meters high and holds 91,000 seats. The opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games, Athletics and Football events will be held in it.

The national stadium is surrounded in a sort of membrane. Unlike China's National Aquatics Center, or "Water Cube," another Olympic venue which is also surrounded in this membrane, the Bird's Nest version is curved and double-layered, offering gracefully decorative soundproof, wind-proof, rain-proof, and even UVA protection to its already impressive body.

The outer layer of membrane, completely constructed in November of 2007, was created using 884 individual ETFE panels, covering a total of 38,500 square meters. The inner layer consists of PTFE material. 1,044 panels take up 53,000 square meters of area, whose main purposes are to better the acoustics in the stadium and to support the equipment within the steel frame.This special membrane can also help lighting within the stadium and effectively diminish glare and shadowing, allowing for a more favorable competition environment.