It is no secret that the Olympics in China this year are designed to make a splash and let the world know that China is “back in the game.”
The Guardian writer, Jonathan Clancey, has been inside the main building and declares it “quite simply stunning.” The Chinese have named it Bird’s Nest when its creators–Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, working with Arup and the China Architectural Design and Research Group–unveiled their design five years ago. “Its mesmeric steel frame, 41,875 tonnes in all, loops, swoops and swirls over and around the great, red, concrete 91,000-seat arena. What had seemed to be a solid structure from a distance proves to be a filigree Chinese puzzle close up.”
The structure is almost complete, while the fit-out, with its shops, restaurants, cafes, bars and meeting places, is racing ahead. At times, there have been as many as 7,000 construction workers on site.
Say what you will about the Olympic-size megalomania, but there is no denying this is a gorgeous building..