Source: CCTV.com
12-18-2008 17:26
The fantastic outer appearance of the National Stadium of China, also known as the Bird’s Nest, was the biggest surprise of the 2008 Olympics. However, this alone was not enough to enable Beijing to host one of the most successful Olympics in history. Since the first Olympics after World War II, the Olympics have not only been an arena in which people can embrace the Olympic spirit, but also a stage on which to demonstrate a nation’s comprehensive strength. The Chinese, of course, also wanted to present themselves to the world through such an arena.
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Aside from its stunning outer appearance, the Bird’s Nest also attracted the attention of many with its human-oriented seating design and safety features. These factors were recognised from the beginning as important marks of a first-class stadium.
Herzog and de Meuron happen to be architects of unique inspiration when it comes to the interior space in sports venues, perhaps partly both Herzog and de Meruron are both keen football fans. Every week their firm organizes a football match, and both Herzog and de Meuron participate whenever time permits.
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Bringing their love of sports with them to the project, Herzog and de Meuron decided which aspects of the stadium’s interior design would be emphasized. The aim would to be to make the spectators and athletes feel as comfortable as possible inside the stadium environment.
During the 2006 World Cup the FIFA World Cup Stadium in Munich, Germany - a masterpiece of design from Herzog and de Meuron - caught the attention of football fans around the world. The stadium – which cost 240 million Euros - had a spectator capacity of 70,000. The outer shell of the stadium was made up of cushions of air in the colors red, white and blue, the three colors representing the German National Team, Bayern Munich and 1860 Munich respectively. As these transparent air cushions conducted light on the outer structure of the stadium, everybody in the city could tell which team was playing as soon as they saw the color of the stadium. This was a design that came about because of Herzog and de Meuron’s understanding of sports.
