Beijing Olympics - Arts, Sculptures & Architecture

August 8, 2008

If there is a prize to be won, it should be given to the people of China for all the hard labour, intrinsic details, leadership and master planning leading up to the Beijing Olympic Games. With an estimated running cost of US$2.1 billion and a total staggering cost of US$43 billion, the enormity of the entire affair coupled with all the external conundrums that plagued the country would make even the most experienced event planners cringe with anxiety. But that is an entirely different story. Today’s post is all about the inspiring beautifully engineered designs, architecture and arts for the Beijing Olympic Games. The Beijing Olympic Games was conceptualised as a Green Olympics, Hi-tech Olympics and People’s Olympics.

Official Graphics & Designs for the Games

Designers: 20 odd young designers from the China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) - a special team under the Art Research Centre for the Olympic Games (ARCOG) lead by Dean Wang Min.

The graphics were designed based on ‘jingwen’, the script found on 2,000 bronze carvings to represent 35 types of olympic sports and 20 paralympic sports. This is also the team that designed the wave pattern on the olympic banners, posters, billboards, certificates and the rest of the comm materials which was inspired by traditional themes found on jade sculptures and silk fabrics. Graphic designers were required to create a look that represented China but also modernise the images to give it a global attraction. Read more about the story behind the Beijing Olympics emblem here.

Beijing National Olympic Stadium

Designer: Herzog and De Meuron Architekten AG, Switzerland and China Architecture Design Institute.

Conceptualised to bring about a contemporary building, the stadium represents modern Chinese with close links to its culture. It is shaped like a bowl with red stand and steels constructed to look like a nest structure. Bird’s Nest is also a delicacy in Chinese cuisine and word has it that the locals regard this new landmark as being on par as the historial Summer Palace. Simply magnificent!

Picture by Spiegel

National Swimming Centre - “Water Cube”

Designer: Consortium of China State COnstruction Engineering Corporationm China State Construction Int (Shenzhen) Design Co Ltd, PTW Architects (Aus) and Ove Arup (Aus).

50,000 sqm semi transparent cube shaped similarly to the structure of H2O. I think it looks like a bubble wrap in daytime. Other high tech features of the centre include multiple angle, 3-dimensional screening system to help spectators enjoy the competition and optical devices to define positions of athletes. With the exterior made from ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene/teflon), solar energy is used to heat the pools while rainwater will be stored in tanks to fill the pools.

Tianjin Olympics Stadium - “Water Drop”

The exterior is designed to resemble water drops. This stadium will be used to host football matches which can accommodate up to 60,000 spectators.

Olympic Games Village

I soo love the interior design of the village especially the tea room. More details can be found here.

Really really large oil-painting scroll

Artist: Liu Ningyi and daughter, Liu Haomei.

Measuring 112 meters in height to represent the number of years in modern history of the olympics and five meters in width to represent the number of olympic rings, the artwork showcases the olympic motto of “swifter, higher, stronger” and “peace, friendship, progress”.

“The historical outline depicted in the painting begins with the Greek mythological figure Prometheus, who purportedly gave fire to man. Philosophers Confucius, Laozi, Quyuan and Socrates are then depicted watching the Olympics, while terra cotta warriors and early Greek athletes are competing in various sports. The painting then jumps to the 1896 revival of the Olympics in Athens by Pierre de Coubertin and follows the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics, to the present-day 2008 Beijing Olympics, which are represented with an Olympic flame. Also in the painting are 2,000 star athletes who have achieved notable fame and recognition in their respective sports. Connecting all of these events is the Olympic flame, which weaves its way throughout the picture.” - Media Operations, Official Beijing Olympics Website.

I’m just totally marvelled at the thorough conceptualisation of this entire scroll. Just imagine the amount of handwork that goes into this painting!

Olympic-themed Embossment

Designer: Fan Xiulong, a farmer of Miaocheng Village of Huairou District, creates the embossment to express his good wishes for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Hair Decoration

Volunteers wearing the five pin hair decoration. Cute.

Picture from xinhuanet.com

Sculptures

Yiks, this chap looks like he escaped from the “Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”!

Watching the live coverage now.

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all pictures are taken from the official Beijing Olympics website.

Posted by Admin | Filed Under Eye for Design & Destinations, Friday Finds | Leave a Comment

Greetings!

June 27, 2008

Hello! Welcome to my first post in our new blog. I said new because we previously maintained a blog which was hosted on Wordpress. In line with our revamped branding and website, we have also started a new blog on our own domain. Most people share the end results of their work, but I hope this blog would be a wonderful place for my team and me to share selected snapshots of experiences in our journey as planners, designers, producers and coordinators. The pain, challenges, successes, implementation and inspirations that come with not just producing successful events or beautiful weddings, but also the growing path of building a business, meeting new friends, travel discovery and more. From time to time, we’ll also use this channel to update you on our latest xperiential escapades, promotions, bridal fairs and more.

Our presence in the blogsphere is to complement our existing services and I want it to be entertaining, informative and interactive. So, yes, I’d like to hear from you too! After all, being a planner, these are the most relevant topics I could share. I know there isn’t much to read at the moment as the structure of this blog will slowly evolve and take on a personality of its own, just as weddings and events eventually do. So bookmark this site, stay tuned and come back for more.

xoxo