Proposals for Beijing Olympic Stadium
Image Source and Copyright: Boston.com
Image Source and Copyright: Boston.com
Another one weeks, China and others say the Olympics should not be politicized, pro-Tibet protesters say they are trying to draw attention to China’s rule over Tibet and its human rights record… yada yada and yada… and more yada.
I am against China’s attempt in whipping off Tibet’s unique culture and replace it with the Han Chinese (I am a Han Chinese) culture, its wrong, neither do I support the stupid one nation two system policy, Hong Kong should be a country by itself, so is Macau and Taiwan. 台湾独立!
Image Source: MalaysiaCity
The blue building on the left is the Beijing National Aquatic Centre or also known as the ‘Water Cube’ was designed by PTW Architects Australia, the red building is the Beijing National Stadium, known as the ‘Bird Nest’.
Well, we all know the existence of the bird nest and water cube, what I am interested is the other proposal during the competition and key scheme for the Beijing National Stadium. Let’s take a look at some of the key scheme that was not chosen (and a good decision too).
Proposal 01
The Architect: “Emerging from the landscape, and shaped by nature, the design will create a simple symbolic link – a bridge – between old and new, between people and country and China with the world.”
Comments: “Looks pretty vulgar to me, probably it is just me, maybe the concept derives from an eye or some private part.”
Proposal 02
The Architect: “The design creates an image of a floating water lily, surrounded by petals and blossoms, emerging in a gently undulating pond.”
Comments – I had no idea that water lily has sharp edges, stop talking cock mr.architect, if you have no idea of the meaning of water lily and the reason why Buddha sat on top of the water lily, stop bullshitting!
An old Chinese proverb – 出淤泥而不讓, here is a really lousy translation, literally it means :If we are born or brought up in a chaotic environment with violence and evil, we should emulate the water lily in the muddy pond, pure and clean without being influence by the surrounding. Mr.Architect, are you implying that Beijing is filthy (indeed it is dirty) to your client? No wonder you lost.
Anyway, it looks like a flying saucer and when the ‘roof’ opens out pop the statue of liberty. Peak-a-boo.
Proposal 03
The Architect: “The upper two layers of the retractable roof adopt the efficient membrane material with high performance. Since the membrane material is very good at deformation resistance, impact resistance, sound absorption and light transmittance, it is helpful to economize the investment, the maintenance cost and the operation expense in the future. ”
Comments: “See, I told you Cockroach-ism exist!”
Proposal 04
The Architect: “The configuration of the stadium symbolizes great nature on the earth. Against the backdrop of sunshiny sky, soft white cloud and green hills are the main originality, along with light pillar that penetrates through white cloud creating nice association. All of these constitute a charming landscape and become a new scene in Beijing tallying with the substance that coexistence of Olympic Game and nature.”
Comments: “I know, the toilets in China are filthy and stinking, you need not remind them with a gigantic toilet bowl.”
Proposal 05
The Architect: “Uses the unique Two Panel Spiral Rotating Shell Retractable Roof Geometry (United States Patent). The roof can be opened and closed in 35 – 40 minutes in wind speeds of up to 50 Km/hr. The sun-facing surface(s) of the retractable roof will be covered with rows of the latest type of photovoltaic cells, one of the largest installations of its kind in the world. The proposed design will be one of the major legacies of the ‘Green Olympics’.”
Comments: “This is the ugliest proposal, it resembles a UFO, an outdated UFO design, if this proposal was chosen, I’ll commit hara-kiri by nuking it to the ground. Maybe the architect thought it was Mars Olympic 2008 – Two Worlds One Dream.”
Glad that the ‘Bird Nest’ design was chosen, a good decision indeed. All images from the Municipal of Beijing’s website, visit the website for more wicked proposals and key schemes for the Beijing Olympic 2008 Stadium. While you’re at it, do visit this website for somefunny Beijing Olympic 2008 Comics
Tags: 2008, Beijing, China, Key Scheme, Logo, Olympic, Olympic Park, Proposal, Stadium, Tibet
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Norman Foster, Reichstag and the Theatre of Democracy
Image Source and Copyright: The Puddle Dry – ich bin ein berliner pils
The Reichstag building in Berlin was constructed to house the Reichstag, the first parliament of the German Empire, it dates from the 1890s and underwent a significant renovation under the lead of British architect Sir Norman Foster in year 1992. According to Wikipedia:
During the reconstruction, the building was first almost completely gutted, taking out everything except the outer walls, including all changes made by Baumgarten in the 1960s. Although not undisputed for its lack of respect for the building’s original design and furniture, the reconstruction is widely regarded as a success. The Reichstag is one of the most visited attractions in Berlin, not least the building to function as a living museum of German history.
When the red army stormed into Berlin and captured the Reichstag, the man wrote their name and the date on the wall, soldiers used charcoal or chalk while high ranking officers wrote it with crayons. Some of the writtens are: ‘They certainly paid for leningard! Stenischen.’, ‘Hello Moscow! Berlin has it’.
While I was going through the history of World War Two, I stumbled upon an article where Winston Churchill proposed to President Roosevelt on the need to delay the landing of allies’ army on Omaha beach, this would allow the Nazi more time to capture Moscow and spells the fall of communism. Sadly, it did not happen and whose fault is it for the spread of communism?
Image Source: Norman Foster, 2000. Rebuilding the Reichstag, United Kingdom:Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
During the sketch design stage, Santiago Calatrava accused Norman Foster of having ’stolen his dome’ from his proposal, Norman Foster’s initial sketch design was a huge elevated flat roof made out of steel trusses, whereas Calatrava’s proposed design was a square cupola.
After some verbal exchanges, the press lost interest and so did Calatrava and the controversy died away.
Image Source: Norman Foster, 2000. Rebuilding the Reichstag, United Kingdom:Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
From my personal point of view, the most amazing part of this entire project is the design of Reichstag Eagle, it all started in April 1996 when Norman Foster was asked to put forward ideas for a new eagle, and just like any good architects, he did his homework by studying eagles for months – hundreds of German eagles, their moves, profiles and many more.
During the early sketches, the new eagle was perceived to be too aggressive, therefore some minor changes was done and the eagle that hangs in the chamber today is therefore also known as the ‘fat hen’. Undeniably, it does look like a fat hen.
It is hard for the Germans to retain the original Gies eagle where it was badly tarnished by Hitler’s and the Nazis, however, the question of to retain the original eagle or not to retain is not an issue, the most important question is whether there should be an eagle at all.
Image Source: Norman Foster, 2000. Rebuilding the Reichstag, United Kingdom:Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Tags: Berlin Parliament, berlin reichstag führung, besichtigung reichstag berlin, Bundestag, Democracy, Eagle, German, Gies Eagle, Hitler, käfer reichstag, Logo, Norman Foster, Reichsta, reichstag berlin, reichstag berlin restaurant, reichstag besichtigung, reichstag führung, Symbol, Theatre of Democracy
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