Bird's nest

Christmas and New Year coming soon! That means a lot of reviews and lists will be published about 2007. One of those list is published by the famous magazine TIME. TIME compiled a top 10 of architectural marvels. In this list 3 architectures from Beijing were included.

Beijing National Stadium, the new CCTV headquarters and the office building project "Linked Hybrid" represent the modern side of Beijing.

The Bird's nest as the Beijing National Stadium is called will be finished around March 2008. The design was developed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron. The 250,000 km² stadium is to be built with 36 km of unwrapped steel, with a combined weight of 45,000 tonnes. It is clear why the stadium gets its peculiar name. Since November last year the stadium can stand on its own without any support. The works started in December 2003 and when it will be completed the stadium will have a capacity of 100.000 spectators. The stadium will be used as the main stadium and most track and field competitions as well as the opening and closing ceremony will take place in The Bird's nest.

As I have seen it, the stadium (most other stadia as well) look finished from the outside. The Olympic green, which includes the Olympic village and the stadia, is well guarded and no unauthorized visitors are allowed.

The CCTV Headquarters is a skyscraper which will be used as the new headquarters of the Chinese Central TeleVision. It is a strange site nowadays in the busy Central Business District of Beijing. Like two towers of Pisa bending towards each other. The Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas designed the building. It is seen as a architectural challenge to be realised.

The remaining architectural wonders of 2007 according to TIME magazine:


Linked Hybrid, Beijing. Steven Holl's retail/office complex will have sky bridges connecting each of its eight towers.

Heathrow Five, London. Richard Rogers' firm is giving Heathrow a big new terminal under a vast, column-free arch.


Caja Madrid Tower, Madrid.Norman Foster's oil-and-gas-company headquarters will have rooftop wind turbines.


IAC Headquarters, New York Frank Gehry Partners.


The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York Sanaa.


Bloch Building, Nelson-Atkins, Museum of Art addition, Kansas City, Mo. Steven Holl Architects.


Federal Building, San Francisco Morphosis.


Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Weiss/Manfredi.