Beijing National Stadium

Cr:picture from google.com

Beijing national stadium

The Beijing national stadium represents the event, the Olympic Games, held in china 2008. It is a symbol building of the 2008 Olympics. The Beijing national stadium has set a very good example to the world's architectural history. The stadium covers an area of about 258 thousand square meters (99.614 square miles), which can accommodate 80,000 fixed seats and 11,000 temporary seats. Its appearance was formed by big steel frames. Its top surface is saddle-shaped with the major axis of 332.3 meters (1,090 feet) and the stub axis of 296.4 meters (972 feet). The tallest point of the stadium is 68.5 meters (225 feet) above the ground and the lowest point is 42.8 meters (140 feet). The top is covered by semi-transparent air bubble film. This kind of material is waterproof and can make enough sunshine penetrate into the stadium. Owing to that, the lawns in it can grow well.

In it, the designs of everything are humanistic. The circular shape of the stadium represents 'heaven', while the adjacent square form of the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube), also design-engineered by Arup, is a reflection of the Chinese symbol for Earth.

The structural form of the stadium is popularly described as a 'bird’s nest', with its pattern inspired by Chinese-style 'crazed pottery'. Seemingly random, the pattern abides by complex rules for which advanced geometry was defined. 

As Beijing is located in one of the world’s most active seismic zones, Arup used advanced seismic analysis to test the stadium under various earthquake conditions and ensure that the structure can withstand major shocks. The bowl-like stands zone surrounds the court. The stands can be changed in many ways, which can satisfy the needs of different numbers of spectators in different periods. During the Olympics, the temporary seats were set at the top of the stands zone. Rows of the stands distribute scientifically. No matter where the spectator is seated, the whole game can be seen without any visual obstruction. The stadium adopted the electro-acoustic public-address system. It makes the index of voice definition reaches 0.6. This number assures that all the audience can hear the broadcast very clearly. What's more, there are more than 200 wheelchair seats intended for the disabled. Indeed, the Beijing national stadium was well built and stunning. It was a great feat and china had outdone themselves. It is the pride of china. 

The building's dynamic form has created a new icon for china and Beijing. The creation of this marvelous building has given us many learning points. We can learn from china, for they are really thoughtful and built a stadium where the spectator could view the game without any visual obstruction from any of the seats, and there were ore than 200 wheelchair seats for the disabled. Furthermore, they had tested the stadium under various earthquake conditions and ensure that the structure can withstand major shocks. I think it is remarkable that they even thought of this problem that could happen. They are extremely cautious and considerate while building this building, which we should learn from them.

--by Jia Rong