The clocks across China are counting down to the day in the evening of August 8th, the moment when Beijing will launch the games of the 29th Olympiad. In preparation for its moment in the centre of the world stage, the city has transformed itself from the downager of old to a dazzling young star decked out in a stunning display of architecture haute couture!

Beijing National Stadium aka The Bird Nest is a stadium finished for the Olympic Green will be an icon and new landmark for Beijing.

The stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies, track and field as well as soccer events. It has a total capacity of 91,000 and 11,000 temporary seating will be removed after the Game, leaving a permanent capacity of 80,000.

Pritzker¹ Prize -winning architects - Herzog & de Meuron Architekten , a Swiss architecture firm founded and headquartered in Basel lead the design.

The structural form of the roof is decsribe as a "nest", an interwoven structural elements of the facade produce a single surface, upon which further elements are arranged in a chaotic manner to blurr the distinction between the primary and secondary structure. The roof is saddle in shaped, and the geomatry is developed from an ellips based. The steel roof, a single 330m long by 220m wide structure weighting 45,000 tonnes is clad with a series of ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) panels on the structure to make the Nest one of the most ingeniously designed "green" buildings in the world. This layer reflects and absorbs sound to maintain the atmosphere in the stadium.

An interwoven structure elements arranged in a chaotic manner.

ETFE
ETFE, a transparent plastic related to Teflon is taking the place of glass and other plastics in many of the most innovatibe buildings being constructed today. It is also known as the material of the future. Compare to glass, it’s 1% the weight, transmit more light, is a better insulator, and cost far less to install. It’s also recycleable, self-cleaning and far tougher, with an estimated 50 years life span.

The nest was build using a polymer called ETFE.

This amazing Nest didn’t come cheaply but still, Beijingers love this building!

Viewing from Google map when it was in construction.

___
¹ One of the world’s premier Architecture prizes awarded "irrespective of nationality, race, creed, or ideology. Some of the Laureates are: I.M Pei, Richard Meier, Kenzo tange, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Renzo Piano, Sir Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid…

Popularity: 5% [?]

The sky is not the limit! Shanghai, already crowded with skyscrapers built on the back of robust economic growth and financial, will top up a tallest building in the world at 580m with 118 stories and contain an area of 433,954 sqm. The Shanghai Center, a supertall skyscraper was approved for construction in Pudong area with the concept of “The Dragon” will be scheduled to be complete in 2010, might be in time for the 2010 World Expo.

Glensler, the world’s largest U.S. based Architecture firm, was choosen to lead the design, beating a design by UK based Norman Foster’s firm.

The Shanghai Center stands a chance to be the tallest unless Burj Dubai (636m) is complete first. Dubai is also considering a proposal for a 1,200m Al Burj design by the son of I.M.Pei - Pei Partnership Architects.

With 5.4 billion yuan (US$786 mil) in capital, the proposed super highrise is stunning and beautiful with materials such as concrete, steels and glass exterior gives it a modern look. It is expected to house offices, hotels, shopping malls as well as recreational facilities, complementing the neighbouring buildings - Jin Mao Building and Shanghai World Financial Center. It is expected to further relieve the shortage of office space for foreign institution in Lujiazui area.

Popularity: 7% [?]

The new Shanghai Pudong International Airport Terminal 2, which has advanced facilities and modern design, went into operation on March 26, 2008. It was conceived as a world-class airport, and one of the largest airport buildings in the world, with capacity of 60 million passengers annually.

Today, I’m very exciting as I have the opportunity to travel using this new Terminal.

The 2 terminals are actually connected by 3 indoor corridors (500 meters long) and free shuttle service every 10 mins, from 6am to 9pm. It will take about an hour for international transfer and probably 45 mins for domestic transfer. You should be able to get to your boarding gates by following the signs. It’s pretty easy, and you are advice to allocate additional time for departure.

Facilities

Bank & Currency Exchange

Books and Magazines in different languages are sold here!

Terminal 2 is much larger than the old one, has 4 floors. There are some dining and shopping services, hourly charged hotel rooms and gym facilities at the very top floor, while the other floors are quite standard. Third floor is for International departures, 2nd floor for domestic departures and baggage claim is on the ground floor.

At the middle point of the Central Path to Terminal 2, there is an exit for the Airport Shuttle Bus.

AIRLINES

The following airlines are moved to the new terminal building since April 29th:

• Air China (CA)
• Air India (AI)
• Aeroflot Russian Airlines (SU)
• Air Macau (NX)
• Air New Zealand (NZ)
• Alitalia (AZ)
• All Nippon Airways (NH)
• Asiana Airlines (OZ)
• AeroSvit Airlines (VV)
• British Airways (BA)
• Cathay Pacific Airways (CX)
• Cebu Pacific Air (5J)
• China Southern Airlines (CZ)
• Deutsche Lufthansa (LH)
• DragonAir (KA)
• Emirates (EK)
• Finnair (AY)
• Shanghai Airlines (FM)
• Garuda Indonesia (GA)
• Malaysia Airlines (MH)
• Northwest Airlines (NW)
• Philippine Airlines (PR)
• Qantas Airways (QF)
• Qatar Airways (QR)
• Royal Brunei Airlines (BI)
• Royal Nepal Airlines (RA)
• Singapore Airlines (SQ)
• Thai Airways (TG)
• Turkish Airlines (TK)
• TransAero Airlines (UN)
• United Airlines (UA)
• Virgin Atlantic Airways (VS)

THE DESIGN

The Interior was designed based on the concept “People Oriented”, which adopts scientific approach in its construction to meet the demand for airline companies, “People oriented, providing convenience for passangers to the utmost extend. The organic sculptural design for the new terminal creates a loose-fit and sustainable building offering transparency and good views, fully utilise natural lighting with flexible spaces. And of course, all factors like flow design, environment, facilities layout and even transfers on ground transport are taken into consideration.

Leafy Ceiling Design

Popularity: 17% [?]