15 Must-Know Beijing National Stadium Facts!

Beijing National Stadium, the official national stadium of China, is a work of art.

Bird's Nest Stadium is another name for this national stadium. It is called such due to its nest-shaped structure.

Initially, this stadium was only constructed to be an Olympic stadium for the Summer Olympics and Paralympics back in 2008. It was also used for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2022.

Back in the day, it had a seating capacity of 91,000 people, but now, the seating capacity of this exquisite stadium has been reduced to merely 80,000 people. The extra 11,000 seats back in the day were temporary seats.

Even after the Olympics are over, the stadium was used. It reopened to the public following the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

A variety of big events, ranging from sports to theatrical performances, are still hosted there. The stadium served as a pit stop for the last leg of 'The Amazing Race' 14th season in 2009.

In the fifth leg of 'The Amazing Race: China Rush' inaugural season, an Olympic-themed detour was staged here in 2010. Later that year, the first leg of 'The Amazing Race China' third season featured a roadblock in which a team member reenacted a dance scene from the opening ceremony.

The stadium also attracts a large number of tourists who come to witness this spectacular structure, perhaps relive some Olympic memories, and speculate on its future.

Continue reading to know about Beijing National Stadium!

Beijing National Stadium Location

Here are some facts about the location of Beijing National Stadium.

You find the Bird's Nest in the city of Beijing's northern outskirts, 8 mi (14 km) from Tian'anmen Square. Its address is 1, National Stadium South Road, Beijing, China.

There are three ways by which you can reach the stadium. If you are coming from the subway, then take line eight to Olympic Green Station. If you would prefer to come by bus, then take No. 82 Bus to National Stadium East Station. You can come here via taxi as well!

You can find two attractions near Bird's Nest Stadium, namely Summer Palace and Mutianyu Great Wall. While the Mutianyu Great Wall is relatively far from the stadium as compared to Summer Palace, which is merely 7.82 mi (12.6 km) away from the stadium.

Beijing National Stadium History

The history of a place tells you about how a place came to be. It's essential to be aware of the history of a place to to truly understand its reason for existence. Read on to know the origin story of the Bird's Nest.

Back in the early 2000s, in order to select the best arena design, Beijing held a bidding process. Each design had to meet a number of criteria, including the potential to be used beyond the Olympics, having a retractable roof, and having minimal maintenance costs.

The winner of the bidding process was the Swiss architecture firm Herzog and de Meuron in April 2003. Herzog and de Meuron architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron designed the stadium, with project architect Stefan Marbach, and CADG, while the chief architect was Li Xinggang.

The stadium was not built all at once, it had various stages. The first stage involved building the concrete supporting structure of the building. Supportive erected structures were put on the construction site. This was followed by the staggered installation of the stadium's curving steel structure, which is mainly self-supporting.

Built in Shanghai, the connecting of pieces of the curving steel frame was then taken for assembly in Beijing and welding was part of this stage installation. As the principal means of interconnection utilized to build the complete surrounding nest structure, the entire structure of linked parts was welded together.

Famous Events Held At Beijing National Stadium

From August 8-24, back in the late 2000s, the Bird's Nest hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, sporting events, and the football final of the 2008 Summer Olympics. From September 6-17, 2008, the stadium also hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as sports events for the 2008 Summer Paralympics.

The stadium was only built for Olympic track and field events. Despite this, the stadium held concerts and local and international pageant events! Furthermore, it continues to hold athletic activities such as football matches after the Olympics as well.

Here are some of the most famous events that were held at Beijing National Stadium.

The stadium has hosted various football matches such as 2009, 2011, and 2012 Supercoppa Italiana. Back in 2010 and 2017, a friendly match between Birmingham City and Beijing Guoan was held. Matches for events like China Cup (2012) and China PR national football team during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers were also hosted on the football field.

Some other sports events included the 2009 Race of Champions motor racing carnival, Beijing ePrix (2014 and 2015), the 2015 World Championships in Athletics, Monster Jam, and the Stadium Super Trucks (2017), and the League of Legends World Championship 2017 Finals.

The stadium even hosted many concerts by famous artists such as Leehom Wang (2012), Taiwanese band Mayday (2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, and 2019), some Korean pop artists under S.M. Entertainment (2013), Jason Zhang (2018), and Hua Chenyu (2018). The stadium has hosted the finals of singing competitions 'The Voice' of China and 'Sing! China'.

Beijing National Stadium Architecture

It took around five years to finish the construction of this exquisite stadium in Beijing. The cost of constructing the whole stadium was $428 million in total.

It is one of the world's largest steel buildings, as well as one of the world's largest stadiums. The stadium is built so strong that it should last at least a century and it's earthquake-proof.

Here are some interesting architectural facts about the Bird's Nest.

The steel structure was constructed using 22 mi (36 km) of unwrapped steel. It's roughly 1092.52 ft (333 m) long from north to south and 971.12 ft (296 m) broad from east to west, with a maximum elevation of 224.73 ft (68.5 m) and a minimum elevation of 140.41 ft (42.8 m).

The building incorporates innovative energy-saving design and environmental protection features, such as natural ventilation, natural lighting, complete rainwater recycling, the utilization of renewable geothermal energy resources, and the use of solar photovoltaic power generating technologies.

There are 312 ground source heat pump system wells beneath the football field that can feed heat from the ground to the stadium in winters and cold from the earth to the stadium in winters by burying heat exchange tubes beneath, which saves a lot of electricity.

The rainwater collected by the stadium's recycling rainwater system may be utilized to afforest, flush bathrooms, manage fires, or flush the runway, saving a significant amount of water resources. As a result, the Bird's Nest is unquestionably regarded as a 'green building'.

The stadium's circular shape evokes 'heaven.' Although, the stadium's structural shape is generally described as a 'bird's nest,' with a design influenced by Chinese-style 'crazed ceramics.' The pattern appears to be random, yet it follows intricate laws for which advanced geometry was established.