Beijing Olympic Stadium
Centrepiece of the 2008 Olympics, this stadium has created a new icon for China and the City of Beijing, and holds a massive 91,000 seats. The near-circular bowl, which was designed from the inside out, has been optimised to place the spectators as close as possible to the athletics track and jumps, while providing excellent views and a full range of seating types and facilities for the general public, media, officials, premium spectators and VVIPs.
The form of the National Stadium is popularly described as a ‘birds nest’ with interwoven twigs, and the pattern was also inspired by traditional Chinese ‘crazed’ pottery, found in Beijing markets.
Although seemingly random, the pattern abides by complex rules imposed on the structure in order to be able to define the geometry.
