bird nest

the Beijing Olympics Stadium is even more impressive when up close. the model at the Beijing City Planning Exhibition (like own URA gallery) shown here. the stadium is still under construction, completion by end of 2007.
we were told the the vertical struts weighed abt 800 tons while the smaller pieces weighed abt 30 tons (like those lying on the ground). the steel was about 10cm thick! as Darth Vader would say: "Impressive!"...
the workers were scurrying like ants all over soldering the pieces of the lattice like superstructure. the interconnecting struts provides structural support without pillars that will obstruct view in the stadium.