Bird’s Nest-Beijing’s National Stadium

The Bird’s Nest is the name of the Beijing National Stadium. It has been given this name due to its shape which looks like a birds nest. Located at the Olympic Green in Beijing it is believed to be the world’s largest enclosed space.

After winning a design competition held in Beijing in 2002 the Swiss architectural firm of Herzog & Meuron in alliance with Chinese artists and designers gave a form to this stadium. The stadium is built with huge steel beams which support each other and are interwoven together.

It looks like a birds nest with interwoven twigs, so the name. The stadium is not covered from the top to allow fresh air and the sight of the blue sky. Restaurants, shops, suites, restrooms-you name it and it is all there in the stadium.

The ‘Bird’s Nest’ can hold 100,000 spectators during the 2008 Beijing Olympics . But the capacity will be reduced to 80,000 after the games. It is 330 metes long and 220 meters wide with a height of 69.2 meters.

The stadium will play host to the opening and closing ceremonies and to the athletics and football events. This stadium is a historic landmark on the map of Beijing.