Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Evoking the Jetsons in Beijing


Tim Johnson, Beijing bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers visits the still-under-construction Herzog and de Meuron Olympics Stadium (nicknamed the "Bird's Nest" by locals) and National Aquatics Center designed by Arup and posts about it on his fascinating blog. See photos of what the finished stadium will look like here. He talks to a PR rep involved with the Olympics committe who has this to say about the "wow factor" of these structures.

“You have much more of a Buck Rogers, gee whiz, Battlestar Galactica feeling to these venues then you would at any other Olympics. You’ve got a facility in the national stadium, dubbed the Bird’s Nest, that looks like something Godzilla would live in. You have the Water Cube filled with plastic bubbles all the way around it that the Jetsons might live in, something very futuristic and never before seen at any Olympics Game.”

“The difference here is that it is tied into the Chinese culture. You have yin and yang. The Water Cube, the main stadium which will be lit in red as fire. So you have the elements of earth surrounded by water and the dragon’s tail coming from the north and the Olympic forest. The entire Olympic Green structure has been looked at, not just mapped out for facilities but something that makes sense for the Chinese culture and the Chinese people.”


2 comments:

Yehudi said...

China is a very exciting and depressing place...those terms seem contradictory, but to those who've been there, they make sense. Beijing and Shanghei...millions of people, alot of dynamics at play, but cloudy, smoggy, and dreary. I liked Hong Kong, though!

I love your site here, Sarah! I'll be back often to check out your latest! L'Shalom, Yehudi

sara said...

I totally agree. I had the same conflicting thoughts when I was there. And I loved Hong Kong too! I will actually be back there later this month so check back for more China posts. Thanks for stopping by.