The Olympic Stadium in Beijing - The 'Bird's nest' - and other architecture in China

Lots has been written and said about the monumental National Stadium that is currently being built here in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games.

As a "Bebbi" myself I'm obviously kind of proud to say that it's HdM (Herzog and de Meuron), architects from Basel, that have won the competition and get to realize their project... ;)

Anyway, I just read an interesting article written by Guido Mingels and published in Das Magazin. While the article contains the usual, funny anecdotes about daily life in China and the understandable disbelief about and fascination with the Chinese way to build (The abundance of labour: at times 10'000 persons were working on this building simultaneously. The speed: partly due to the amount of relatively cheap manual labour available, partly, also judging from my own experience, because of a slightly different idea of what passes the required minimal quality threshold and what doesn't) it also contains some very interesting thoughts about the associations a piece of architecture can evoke, especially in China.

Mingels describes how some of the monumental buildings currently under constructions are perceived by the local population and how they were given nicknames that defy their original purpose : to build proud buildings symbolizing the 'rebirth' of China.

The National Opera being built according to Paul Andreu's design, even dwarfing the neighbouring, imposing Great Hall of the People is consequently referred to as "duck egg".

The CCTV tower designed by Rem Koolhaas and currently being built in Beijings CBD is risking to be referred to as the inclined gate of Beijing.


The article also mentions a project by a European architect who participated in the competition for the construction of the National Opera. His design consisted of 3 oval buildings whose roofs were composed of a variety of green, polygonal surfaces. Altogether the buildings looked like 3 green turtles. Lovely, right? Well, not quite. In China a green turtle stands for a married man that has also succumbed to the temptation of an other woma - an adulterer. Even though architectonically brilliant, the project was dead before it really started.

Projects that fare better are the appendix to the airport in Beijing designed by Norman Foster. Since it looks like the tail of a dragon, it is a "sure winner" in China, so Li Xingang.


So what about the Olympic stadium? It started off risking to be referred to as a big "potty", hence not exactly ideal to evoke national pride or the respect it, architechtonically, merited. Taking the concerns uttered by Li Xinggang into account, HdM changed the design slightly. Result: the public has adopted the nickname "bird's nest" for this colossos made of steel and concrete. Since the connotations of a birds nest in China are positive, ranging from birth, family, security to nature, the stadium is likely to become the magnet it is supposed to be.

The fact that this "magnet" is considered very important is implied by its location: It is built on one straight axis connecting the Forbidden City, Tian'anmen, Mao's Mausoleum and Bell- and Drum tower, all symbols of past rulers and pride. What will the prominently located Olympic Stadium stand for? Good architecture is not only a reflection of the people's mind and culture but influences their life and, potentially, their minds. In this sense I slightly disagree (idealist as I am) with the authors last sentence, but like his thoughts about the "evolution of the architecture of the state".

Evolution der Staatsarchitektur

Wer dereinst beim Besuch in Peking nacheinander die Verbotene Stadt, den Tiananmen-Platz und das Nationalstadion besichtigt, wird dabei vielleicht eine Evolution der chinesischen Staatsarchitektur erkennen. Eine Evolution, die den Traum von Herzog & de Meuron, symbolisch an einem neuen China mitzubauen, bestätigt. Die Kaiserachse, auf der alle drei Bauwerke stehen, ist gleichzeitig eine Zeitachse der politischen Kultur Chinas. Der quadratkilometergrosse Kaiserpalast, der im 15. Jahrhundert angelegt wurde und nacheinander vierzehn Kaisern der Ming- sowie zehn der Qing-Dynastie Heimat bot, war eine eigene Stadt in der Stadt, von hohen Mauern umgeben, welche die gottähnlichen Herrscher niemals verliessen, unerreichbar für das Volk. Der Tiananmen-Platz wiederum, von Mao umgestaltet, ist eine schier endlose offene Fläche, zu der zwar jeder Bürger Zutritt hat, auf der sich der Einzelne aber restlos verloren fühlt; es ist Monumentalarchitektur mit erdrückender Wirkung, und erst in der Ferne, am Rand des Platzes, bieten die Mao-Grabstätte und das Kongressgebäude als einzige Perspektive dem Auge einen Halt. Das Olympiastadion schliesslich, sieben Kilometer nördlich, drückt eine völlig andere Haltung aus. Es ist riesig, aber es hat keine Mauern und nichts zu verbergen. Die Stahlstruktur hat keine Türen, ist überall betretbar, jeder kann jederzeit hinein und hinaus. Das Vogelnest ist ein Geflecht ohne Hierarchie, in dem aber jeder Zweig eine statische Funktion hat; bricht man nur einen hinaus, leidet seine Stabilität. Wenn dies zum Sinnbild eines neuen China würde, dann hätte das Olympiastadion mehr getan, als nur seinen Zweck erfüllt.

Aber natürlich entscheidet am Ende nicht die Architektur darüber, wohin die Politik sich entwickelt. Sondern umgekehrt. Read more

I'll definitely going to include questions regarding the new "historical" buildings of Beijing and how they are perceived into my conversations with people that I tend to bug randomly in the streets of Beijing. ^^

architecture, design, culture, china, beijing, olympic games