China's National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, was announced early Saturday to be fully operational, signaling the readiness of all 37 venues for the upcoming Beijing Olympics in August.
"The Bird's Nest is the last completed Olympic venue but the best," said Tan Xiaochun, chief commander of the Bird's Nest project.
Covering 20.4 hectares in the Beijing Olympic Green, the bowl-shaped and girder-structured huge nest with 91,000 seats will hold the opening and closing ceremonies, track and field events, men's soccer, and some events for the later Paralympics.
The eye-catching Nest has been a newsmaker ever since its blueprint. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winners Herzong & DeMeuron (Swiss) and Chinese architect Li Xinggang, the Nest crowned dozens of other plans in worldwide competition in 2003.
The stadium also topped architecture category of the 100 most influential designs in Times magazine earlier this year.
The seats are settled in an interlocking network of steel bars, which makes every single seat equal to each other and brings the audience back to the nature, said Li Aiqing, board chairman of the National Stadium Co., Ltd.
The hollowed complex allows in sunshine to the maximum, making spectators feel like they are in a forest, Li said.
Designer Li Xinggang once said the bowl shape would help the audience focus on the bottom center of the container, and integrate people and structure as a whole.
"You can imagine yourself to be an athlete, standing at the center of the venue attracting thousands of eyes. You will be turned on by the audience's cheers, feeling like at the center of a stage. It will lead you to final success. That's exactly the spirit of sports since ancient Greek," Li said.
Source: Xinhua
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