A2 RW Ch5 L4 · Giving Presentations & Chapter 5 Review 📘

1After the Chinese learned that they would host the 2008 Olympic Games, they announced a design contest for the Olympic stadium. Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron’s stunning design won the competition. Herzog wanted the stadium to look like a forest of steel beams. Once the Chinese saw the design, they immediately began calling it the “bird’s nest.”

2The bowl-shaped stadium would need more than 41,000 tons of steel for the outer frame. The engineers were worried about the weight. They also had to make sure the structure could withstand (survive) an earthquake. The beams went from the ground to the top of the building. They needed the beams to bend and curve. They also had to be flexible during an earthquake. To create the pattern of beams and test their flexibility, the engineers used advanced computer software. They also developed a special type of steel. It took a lot of skill to weld the beams together. Some workers died because they fell from high distances.

3A few months after construction began, they stopped in order to redesign the roof. In France, a similar roof at an airport had collapsed without warning. There was fear of this happening to the stadium; so, the engineers removed most of the roof to make it safer.

4While constructing the steel frame, they used 78 support pillars to hold it up. In September 2006, they removed the pillars and the structure was able to stand on its own. Finally, a year later, the steel frame was complete. The engineers could now focus on building the inside of the stadium, which had space for 91,000 people. In the end, the Bird’s Nest took five years to complete and is now the largest steel structure in the world.

1After the Chinese learned that they would host the 2008 Olympic Games, they announced a design contest for the Olympic stadium. Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron’s stunning design won the competition. Herzog wanted the stadium to look like a forest of steel beams. Once the Chinese saw the design, they immediately began calling it the “bird’s nest.”

2The bowl-shaped stadium would need more than 41,000 tons of steel for the outer frame. The engineers were worried about the weight. They also had to make sure the structure could withstand (survive) an earthquake. The beams went from the ground to the top of the building. They needed the beams to bend and curve. They also had to be flexible during an earthquake. To create the pattern of beams and test their flexibility, the engineers used advanced computer software. They also developed a special type of steel. It took a lot of skill to weld the beams together. Some workers died because they fell from high distances.

3A few months after construction began, they stopped in order to redesign the roof. In France, a similar roof at an airport had collapsed without warning. There was fear of this happening to the stadium; so, the engineers removed most of the roof to make it safer.

4While constructing the steel frame, they used 78 support pillars to hold it up. In September 2006, they removed the pillars and the structure was able to stand on its own. Finally, a year later, the steel frame was complete. The engineers could now focus on building the inside of the stadium, which had space for 91,000 people. In the end, the Bird’s Nest took five years to complete and is now the largest steel structure in the world.