Olympic stadiums in China

The Beijing National Stadium, also known as the National Stadium, or the "Bird's Nest" for its architecture, will host the main track and field competitions for the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. It is located east of the Beijing National Aquatics Centre. The stadium can accommodate as many as 91,000 spectators during the Olympics. The capacity will then be reduced to 80,000 after the Games. It has replaced the original intended venue of the Guangdong Olympic Stadium. The stadium is 330 metres long by 220 metres wide, and is 69.2 metres tall. The stadium uses 258,000 square metres of space and has a usable area of 204,000 square metres. It was built with 36 km of unwrapped steel, with a combined weight of 45,000 tonnes. The stadium will cost up to 3.5 billion yuan ($423 million).

National Swimming Center

PTW's National Swimming Center for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing stands for beauty, innovation and quality, a good precedent for future developments in a nation whose growth appears to be limitless. The design boasts a striking blue bubble aesthetic, which is both eye-catching and indicative of the function it houses. Known as the Watercube, PTW's design is a basic box, juxtaposed with an organic bubble structure that makes up the building cladding. The bubbles are both organic (in form) and highly-scientific, constructed based on actual arrangement of organic cells and the natural formation of soap bubbles.

Olympic Village

Olympic Village is part of the Olympic Green area, expected to accommodate 16,000 athletes and officials during the Olympic Games and 7,000 athletes and officials during the Paralympic Games. The residential area of the Village consists of 22 six-floor buildings and 20 nine-floor buildings, as well as a clinic, restaurants, a library, a recreation centre, gyms, swimming pools, tennis courts, basketball courts and jogging tracks. The international area of the village will be used for the NOC team-welcome ceremonies and for other reception activities.
The Olympic Village, covers a total area of 66 hectares, lies at the North end of Beijing's central axis and has the Olympic Forest Park to its North and the major Olympic venues to its South. The village joins the illustrious list of important sites, including the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. The Beijing Olympic Village has some environment friendly designs and facilities. The amount of green space in the residential area of the Village is about 40%, rising to 50% for the whole of the Olympic Village. Some of the lighting in the Village will use solar power, as will some of the hot water production, which will use solar heat collecting tube technology. A rain water collecting and reuse system is installed and all the toilets will use water-saving technology.

Guangdong Stadium

Originally planned as the center venue this stadium until a decision was made to construct the National Stadium in Beijing. Built 100 miles north of Hong Kong in the city of Guangzhou it seats 80,000 people. Taking from Guangzhou's nickname as the Flower City, the American architectural firm of Ellerbe Becket designed Guangdong Stadium to resemble a flower. As the architects say the stadium bowl would grow out of the ground to a sculpted upper edge, like the petals of a flower. Floating above the bowl is a shimmering ribbon of roof flowing like a wave over the seats. It would part at the ends and hold the Olympic flame, suspended between the two ribbons. A hotel would surround a circular opening in the roof that forms a vertical tower of light, which at night is visible from a great distance.