National Stadium, Aquatics Centre Earning Rave Reviews

Critic Feels Bird's Nest Is One Of Top Olympic Stadiums Of All Time

The Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed the Bird's Nest, "lives up to its aspiration as a global landmark" and has an allure "only likely to deepen once the enormous crowds disperse and the Olympic Games fade into memory," according to N.Y. TIMES architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff. Until now, "the number of memorable Olympic stadiums could be counted on one hand," but the Bird's Nest is "an aesthetic triumph that should cement the nation's reputation as a place where bold, creative gambles are unfolding every day." The stadium's exterior "elliptical latticework shell," which contributed to its nickname, has an "intoxicating beauty that lingers in the imagination." It also can be "read as an attack on the mind-numbing conformity" of typical stadium architecture, as stadium architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, "by creating a hierarchy of intimate spaces, ... allow for unexpected moments of privacy and solitude." Ouroussof writes "it saddens me that so many Americans will experience the building only via satellite." The Bird's Nest "reaffirms architecture's civilizing role in a nation that, despite its outward confidence, is struggling to forge a new identity out of a maelstrom of inner conflict" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/5).

Aquatics Center Also A Hit Among Olympic Visitors, Media

CROWN JEWELS: In Denver, John Henderson writes the Beijing Games "venues are spectacular," with the Bird's Nest and the National Aquatics Centre, nicknamed the Water Cube, serving as the "crown jewels." The Bird's Nest "looks like one giant pile of steel" up close, but from a distance, it "really does resemble a bird's nest, minus the tree." Henderson: "At night, it transforms into a silver monument with a red ember inside glowing all over Beijing." Meanwhile, the Water Cube "looks like a living, breathing, pulsating organism." It is "tailored like a sewing pattern and at night looks like one giant blue membrane" (DENVER POST, 8/5). NBC’s Ian Williams noted the Beijing Games are “as much about image as it is sport,” and the stadiums are "two of the world’s most innovative pieces of architecture” ("Nightly News," NBC, 8/4). In Chicago, Jay Mariotti writes the two venues "are the most spectacular ever constructed at an Olympics -- and this will be my 13th" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 8/5).

"WEIRD" SCIENCE: CNBC’s Becky Quick said of the Bird’s Nest, “If you’re going to have a stadium, it’s got to be hard to make it look unique, it’s got to be hard to make it stand out in way that makes you always remember these Olympics, so go for something weird and out there.” CNBC’s Joe Kernen: “It’s ugly, but it’s going to be an important structure” (“Squawk Box,” CNBC, 8/5).