The Bird's Nest Stadium

The Bird's Nest Stadium has become a famous emblem of the Bejing Olympics. It is a complex woven structure created from steel. The weave is quite open, allowing movement between the strands. The stadium has an inner skin which makes it weather proof.

The woven structure is quite deep, forming an outer skin which people can move through. The outer skin acts as a transitional space between outside and in.

The scale of the woven structure is very large, you imagine it might be like looking at a delicate textile fabric under a microscope.

A view of the facade

It is easy to see why the stadium got the nickname of the 'bird's nest' when you look at images of real birds nests. These natural structures are very beautiful and the thick outer structure gets denser towards the inside edge, creating a strong and comfortable living space.