"Bird's Nest" makes international debut at the 29th Olympic Games

The National Stadium, better known as "Bird's Nest" for its structure, the iconic building for the Beijing Olympic Games, comes to the spotlight as the grand opening ceremony held on 8 August, 2008. Fantastic firework displays, celebrities as well as all the flags of all different countries are the things to enjoy.



Located in the Olympic Green in north Beijing, the stadium with a capacity of over 90,000 seats, designed by Arup, a professional consultancy providing engineering, design, planning as well as project management, hosts the main track and field competition as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.



The stadium earned the nickname of "Bird's Nest" for its unique steel roof structure. "We designed the stadium inside out. The seating bowl was designed first as our priority to ensure that 91,000 spectators will be as close as possible to the action with clear sight lines," said J Parrish, a Director of Arup Sport focusing on specialist sports design.



Parrish continued that the first thing came to mind when designing the stadium was all about the people, giving people a great view, comfortable seats, guaranteeing all the spectators' security and their enjoyment of the Games. The stadium should get people as close to the action as they can and get the right balance between what they can see and how close they are. The tribune was designed to give people a good view over the head of the person at front.



When construction for 'Bird Nest' was commenced right in the early stages, the designers already knew where every seat was located. They also knew the quality of the view from every seat. computer technology, helped strike a balance between the conflicting factors of how a good view was, how close the spectators were and whether the spectators were close enough to see the far end.



A lot of work has also been done for people's movement in the stadium because everyone who goes there must be kept safe. "It is a very courageous building in terms of size, so it requires much information very very early. A lot of factors needed to be taken into consideration. An issue becomes critical in stadium, what happens when people bounce up and down?" noted Parrish. "As we did in Beijing for the Olympic stadium as well as for all our projects, we use computer technology to model the flow of crowd. It is a very challenging field because the difference between being safe and being killed is very close. "



According to Parrish, if a stadium becomes obsolete, it is not simply because the structure is too old, or because the seats are wrong - it is because of the facilities are not considered appropriate. "We employed parametric design in Beijing Olympic venues in order to design things much more sufficiently than we normally could, and we were also keen to do to bring people as close as we could," said Parrish.



Last but not the least, the design of "Bird's Nest" also met the challenge of creating a legacy. What does it do once it finishes the Olympics and what does it do for the next 20, 30 or even 40 years? The stadium will be more than just a sporting venue after the Olympics. Besides big events, the "Bird's Nest" will serve the citizens for their fitness, entertainment and leisure in the long run.



By People's Daily Online