Technical visit venues

>>The National Stadium “Bird Nest”

The National Stadium, the main stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games, is dubbed the “Bird’s nest” because of its innovative grid formation that serves as both structure and facade. The twig-like structural elements and the bowl-shaped roof are the masterpiece of the project, yet they pose great challenges to technicians and workers who need to make the building stand on its own feet.

The oval-shape structure is 332.4 metres long by 296.4 metres wide, and is 68.5 metres tall. The 258,000-square-metre (gross floor area) stadium, seated as many as 91,000 spectators during the Olympics, was built with 36 km of unwrapped steel, with a combined weight of 42,000 tons. The stadium itself is composed of grid-like twisted box-sections with large width-to-thickness ratio.

One of the most unique features of the structure is its “cushion” system which strategically fills the spaces within the building’s facade to regulate wind, weather, and sunlight. On the rooftop, the inflatable cushions fill gaps to weather- and water-proof the stadium. “Just as birds stuff the spaces between the woven twigs of their nests with soft filler, the spaces in the structure of the stadium will be filled with inflated cushions.” The cushions are made from top-layer ETFE and bottom PTFE.

Such a large-scale and highly-trafficked building raises questions of waste, efficiency, and cost, but the “Bird’s nest” seems to pose innovative, green solutions to a variety of potential building issues.

The Bird’s Nest is designed by Herzog & de Meuron collaborated with ArupSport and China Architecture Design & Research Group.

>>The National Aquatics Centre “Water Cube”

The National Aquatics Centre, known as “Water Cube”, is innovatively created from the fundamental arrangement of organic cells and the natural formation of soap bubbles. It is shaped as H2O, water. In Chinese culture, water is an important natural element, and it creates a calming atmosphere and inspires happiness.

The semi-transparent structure is 177 metres long, 177 meters wide and 31 metres high. The geometry of the structure is created from an array of optimized Weaire Phelan foam that is much bigger than the building, rotating and then trimming the foam that falls both the outside the building envelop and the inner occupation; the remains form the roof and the walls of the structures; the cutting edge is the truss chord and the sides of polyhedron is the web members. It is also clad in ETFE foil cushions which have excellent insulation properties and creates a greenhouse effect.

The Water Cube is designed by the design consortium consisting of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, China State Construction International (Shenzhen) Design Co Ltd, PTW Architects (Australia) and Ove Arup (Australia).

>>Peking University Gymnasium

>>New CCTV Headquarter