The Astonishing Marvel That is the Bird’s Nest StadiumKenny Slaught

Long before we had commonplace architectural wonders like museums or opera houses, which are the focus for most of today's architectural innovation, we had stadiums. Unlike comparable structures in Egypt and South America, ancient Greece's first stadiums were designed for the entertainment of the public rather than to glorify leaders or gods. These massive structures, which were built to accommodate the length of a "stadion," or 600 feet, were not only among the first architectural wonders, but they were also some of the first projects designed specifically to serve as public spaces.

Given that these first stadiums were intended, in part, to accommodate the original Olympic Games, it is little wonder that many of our most astounding stadiums today were created for the modern Olympics. These events have provided hosting nations with the opportunity to flaunt their achievements on the world stage, often by constructing architectural marvels.

For example, Adolf Hitler's Nazi government hired Werner March to design a stadium worthy of Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda films for the 1936 Olympics. Barcelona similarly took advantage of the 1992 games in order to promote itself, with architects ranging from Arata Isozaki to Frank Gehry participating in projects across the city.

The most recent notable addition to the architectural history of the Olympics, however, came in 2008, with the debut of the Beijing National Stadium. Popularly known as the Bird's Nest due to its distinctive pattern of support beams, the Beijing National Stadium serves as an emblem of both stunning Olympian architectural feats and the problems host countries face in the aftermath of the games.

The Bird’s Nest Takes ShapeThe International Olympic Committee (IOC) selects host cities for the games many years in advance, and in 2001, it announced that Beijing would host the 2008 Summer Games. Even well-developed host counries have had difficulty meeting the needs of the IOC, and Beijing was considered particularly underdeveloped with respect to the infrastructure necessary to host the games. As a result, China devoted considerable resources to the task, and for its centerpiece, its Olympic stadium, it held an open competition for a design. The winners, Herzog & de Meuron of Switzerland and Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, designed a structure that would meet the needs of Beijing, which wanted a truly unique stadium that could seat 100,000 spectators, serve multiple functions, and have zero environmental impact.

The result, the Beijing National Stadium, sought to bring ancient Chinese artistic conventions to the modern world through its design wrought in steel and glass. Herzog & de Meuron based the stadium on Chinese artwork depicting ships wrapped in graceful weaves, but the public immediately associated the design with a bird's nest, which gave the stadium its nickname. A few years later, construction began.

A record-breaking 110,000 tons of steel were used to create the main stadium and its facade. The interior stadium, which ultimately included 92,000 seats for the games, 12,000 of which were removed afterward, featured an innovative Ethylene Tetra Fluoro Ethylene (ETFE) membrane roof over the spectators. Perhaps the project’s most innovative engineering feat is its earthquake protection feature—the façade’s steel frame was designed to separate from the concrete stadium, which itself was sectioned into sixths in order to allow each portion to move independently.

The Games and Their AftermathThe 2008 Summer Olympics began with a bang. The opening ceremony was widely regarded as spectacular, and the Bird's Nest simultaneously served as its main stage and its star attraction. Even seven years later, the Beijing National Stadium remains an architectural icon, widely considered a masterpiece of design and artistry. However, it also serves as a poignant reminder of the complex interplay between politics and art.

For years, Western news outlets have reported on how the Bird's Nest is now empty. Despite the fact that the stadium requires some $11 million annually for maintenance, few events take place there. On most days, it's a sleepy tourist attraction, though the Chinese government has tried everything in its power to make it relevant again, from turning the stadium into a temporary winter sports park to giving the space over to performance artists. While officials have pointed out that the stadium has hosted more than 300 events since the 2008 games, independent reports continue to suggest that the space has become more monument than venue.

Experts have gone so far as to suggest that the Bird's Nest may be the last stadium of its kind. Tokyo, in preparations for its 2020 games, has already scrapped designs by renowned architect Zaha Hadid for its own Olympic stadium, for example, in order to avoid saddling the city with an expensive but useless venue. However, China may have found a clever way to get more use out of its stadium: host another Olympics. In July of 2015, the IOC named Beijing the host of the 2022 Winter Games, and the city has announced that the Bird's Nest will once again serve as the event’s main stage.