Building for Olympia - Birkhäuser publishes official documentation on Beijing
architecture
The final preparations for the Olympic Games are in full swing. Nowhere is
this more manifest than in the realisation of the architectural venues, the new
specially-built arenas and refurbished stadiums. Architects from China and
abroad compete against one another in a contest of mega-spectacles. And, like
every host city so far, Beijing plans to use the Olympics as a show-case and
opportunity to re-create its image through ambitious projects, to re-invent
itself as a city of representation on the global stage, and so make a
significant (and controversial) contribution to urban development scenarios.
With Olympic Architecture Beijing 2008 Birkhäuser – already working for some
years together with China Architecture and Building Press (CABP), the largest
Chinese publishing house specialised in architecture – now presents a
comprehensive study of all the Olympic venues in Beijing. The title is edited by
the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design and is, therefore, the only and
official documentation of these buildings authorised by the Chinese government.
With more than 500 to date mostly unpublished plans and photographs, this
comprehensive introduction provides not only an overview of all the sporting
venues, it also introduces the reader to the specialised buildings through
detailed descriptions of the individual projects, highlighting them in detail.
In addition, Guoxin Ma, participating architect and member of the Chinese
Academy of Engineering, provides us with insights into the concept and the
programmatic standards of this gigantic project: we read about the cultural
background and ideals symbolised by the buildings and how the newest
architectural forms and technological possibilities are intertwined with Chinese
tradition and the Olympic spirit. Readers will gain awareness of how the
challenges that the architects have to deal with include pushing the limits of
the technologically possible, with wide-ranging consequences for the future of
architecture.
This book is not only a standard documentary reference work for architects
and a specialist audience, providing important technical details and data as
well as crucial visual records in an overview, it is also the highly
illuminating presentation of a spectacular display of architectural prowess,
worthy of admission to the architectonic Olympus.
Olympic Architecture. Beijing 2008
Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (Ed.)
316 pp., approx. 400 colour ills. and 100 plans
22,0 x 30,5 cm, Hardcover, 2008
ISBN 978-3-7643-8834-8, English
42.69 € (D) / 29.90 £ (GB)
For ordering please contact the Publisher
- Birkhäuser - www.birkhauser.ch
german version 