The clocks across China are counting down to the day in the evening of August 8th, the moment when Beijing will launch the games of the 29th Olympiad. In preparation for its moment in the centre of the world stage, the city has transformed itself from the downager of old to a dazzling young star decked out in a stunning display of architecture haute couture!

Beijing National Stadium aka The Bird Nest is a stadium finished for the Olympic Green will be an icon and new landmark for Beijing.

The stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies, track and field as well as soccer events. It has a total capacity of 91,000 and 11,000 temporary seating will be removed after the Game, leaving a permanent capacity of 80,000.

Pritzker¹ Prize -winning architects - Herzog & de Meuron Architekten , a Swiss architecture firm founded and headquartered in Basel lead the design.

The structural form of the roof is decsribe as a "nest", an interwoven structural elements of the facade produce a single surface, upon which further elements are arranged in a chaotic manner to blurr the distinction between the primary and secondary structure. The roof is saddle in shaped, and the geomatry is developed from an ellips based. The steel roof, a single 330m long by 220m wide structure weighting 45,000 tonnes is clad with a series of ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) panels on the structure to make the Nest one of the most ingeniously designed "green" buildings in the world. This layer reflects and absorbs sound to maintain the atmosphere in the stadium.

An interwoven structure elements arranged in a chaotic manner.

ETFE
ETFE, a transparent plastic related to Teflon is taking the place of glass and other plastics in many of the most innovatibe buildings being constructed today. It is also known as the material of the future. Compare to glass, it’s 1% the weight, transmit more light, is a better insulator, and cost far less to install. It’s also recycleable, self-cleaning and far tougher, with an estimated 50 years life span.

The nest was build using a polymer called ETFE.

This amazing Nest didn’t come cheaply but still, Beijingers love this building!

Viewing from Google map when it was in construction.

___
¹ One of the world’s premier Architecture prizes awarded "irrespective of nationality, race, creed, or ideology. Some of the Laureates are: I.M Pei, Richard Meier, Kenzo tange, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Renzo Piano, Sir Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid…

Popularity: 24% [?]

I found that mainlanders like to write on the floor in public!

Popularity: 7% [?]

When you steps onto the ancient street of Wangfujing in Beijing, you will notice a sugar blower went from street to street with his shoulder poles, carrying stools and cupboards on each side. The cupboard held charcoal, charcoal stove with a cuprum spoon full of maltose in the center. On top of it were models of different kinds of sugar figures on straws. These have attracted lots of kids and tourists.

First, the maker prepares his basic recipe and makes the hard candy or maltose by heating it until it becomes soft. He then picks up a lump of the maltose and nip the soft maltose by hands, makes a small hollow to plugs it into a wheat straw pole and blow gently, using his hand to form a figure… He slowly blows through the pipe and enlarges the air pocket inside the sugar ball. Soon, the soft maltose turns into a striking creature. This sugar figures would sell for 30 yuan.

This traditional parts of the Chinese culture still enjoys a strong vitality and social influence in Beijing.

The sugar blower has made a variety of sugar figures that he displays on his stand.

Popularity: 4% [?]