Situated in the heart of the capital, next to Tian’anmen Square, the National Center for Performing Arts is Beijing’s foremost cultural center. Designed by architect Paul Andreu, the theater has been one of the most talked-about architectural projects for years, because of Andreu’s audacious and innovative design and the project’s grand scope. The curved building [...]

The National Aquatics Center, also known colloquially as the Water Cube, was a major venue for the 2008 Olympic Games. After over four years of construction, the building was completed on January 28, 2008. The Water Cube comprises over 100,000 square meters of ETFE foils, making it the single largest, most complicated and most comprehensive [...]

The National Stadium, as the main track and field stadium for the 2008 Olympics Games, is dubbed the “bird’s nest” because of its innovative grid formation. The twig-like structural elements and the bowl-shaped roof are the masterpiece of the project, yet they posed great challenges for technicians and workers during construction. The stadium was begun [...]