Beijing Olympic Stadium vs London Olympic Stadium

Beijing Olympic Stadium

Interesting Facts

• The bird’s nest can withstand an earthquake of up to magnitude 8 on the Richter Scale.
• At the peak of construction there were over 9,000 workers on the project.
• The project budget began at $500M before it was drastically reduced to just under $300M.

The facilities:

The 91,000-seater venue has a four-star hotel with 80 rooms under one of its sides, a gourmet restaurant with views of the athletics track, and a twin-level underground shopping centre.

Its architects also claim it is one of the most environmentally-friendly stadiums in the world, as under soil 

geothermal pipes help heat indoor parts of stadium in winter and rainwater is collected and stored in underground cisterns for irrigation and to flush lavatories.

London Olympic Stadium 2012

Contrasting with the enormity of the "Bird's Nest" Beijing Games, the Olympic Stadium in London is simple in design. At a cost of 486 million pounds (720 million francs), it was designed as a modular structure so that they can be reused after the Games. Its upper floor, made of steel and concrete houses and 55 000 temporary seats can be dismantled in order to reduce the total capacity of 80 000 to 25 000 seats.

The Olympic Park - London Olympics 2012

An aerial shot of the Olympic Park taken just a few weeks before the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

London 2012 has been the catalyst for transforming 2.5 square kilometres of land in east London. What was once industrial land has been rapidly transformed over the last few years into green space that both visitors to the Games and local residents can enjoy.