Designed By Herzog & de Meuron, the studium also well known as Beijing National Stadium or in mandarin name, it’s called Beijing Guójia Tiyùchang (Hanyu Pinyin). The stadium will host the main track and field competitions for the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. It is located right next to “The Watercube” - Beijing National Aquatics Centre

Construction began on 23 December 2003 and is scheduled to be finish in early 2008. To achieve the optimum design, the team relied heavily on parametric design software. This helped to work out the sightlines, the bowl geometry, airflow to keep the grass in good condition, seismic studies and to design the external envelope. While the surface of the structure is simple, the geometry is complex – the calculations were so numerous and complicated that they could not be solved manually. Software was needed to make sure that the web of twisting steel sections fitted together, as they have to twist and bend to follow the surface accurately. The spaces in the structure of the stadium are to be filled with inflated Ethylene TetrafluoroEthylene (ETFE) cushions. On the facade, the inflated cushions will be mounted on the inside of the structure where necessary, to provide wind protection. Since all of the facilities – restaurants, suites, shops and restrooms – are all self-contained units, it is possible to do largely without a solid, enclosed facade. This allows natural ventilation of the stadium, which is the most important aspect of the stadium’s sustainable design. To keep costs down, all the structural elements of the stadium are contained within it, so there are no towers or cable nets. To earthquake-proof the stadium, the bowl and roof were split into two separate elements and the bowl split into eight zones, each with its own stability system and effectively its own building. The stadium can seat as many as 91,000 spectators during the Olympics. The capacity will then be reduced to 80,000 after the Games. It has replaced the original intended venue of the Guangdong Olympic Stadium. The stadium is 330 metres long by 220 metres wide, and is 69.2 metres tall. The stadium uses 258,000 square meters of space and has a usable area of 204,000 square metres. It was built with 36 km of unwrapped steel, with a combined weight of 45,000 tonnes. The stadium has some 11,000 square metres of underground rooms with waterproof walls.

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