When you imagine Beijing, China’s characteristic architecture likely comes to mind — red walls, tiled roofs, and quaint courtyard dwellings. What visitors might not expect is to see skyscrapers and fantastical modern architecture that wouldn’t look out of place in Singapore or London. Before hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing underwent a transformation of epic proportions. Huge areas of the city’s ancient alleyways and courtyards were razed to make way for malls, subway stations, and apartment complexes. This was all part of China’s mission to demonstrate its modernity and economic progress.
The “Giant Egg”: Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts
The National Performing Arts Center (NCPA) was erected before Beijing’s 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Known locally as “The Giant Egg,” the building is located on the south side of Chang’an Street, near Tiananmen Square. It was designed by Paul Andreu, a French architect, and is the largest theater complex in Asia. What makes this building unique, however, is its shape, which is semi-spherical.
The building is nearly 130,000 square feet and features both its main buildings and underground facilities. It contains an opera hall, music hall, theater, art exhibition halls, restaurants, audio shops, and more. Interestingly, while the structure is covered in over 18,000 pieces of titanium metal, only four of those titanium pieces are the same shape.
Due to laws that prevent surrounding structures from exceeding the height of the Great Hall of the People (151 feet), architects got creative by incorporating underground development. The NCPA extends ten stories underground, and around 60% of the building’s area is underground. The building is surrounded by an artificial lake, and all entrances to the building are below the water’s surface. To enter the building, you must go through a nearly 300-foot underwater passage.
The building is controversial both due to its futuristic design and its location. Situated immediately west of Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall of the People, and near the Forbidden City, the structure stands out rather dramatically. Paul Andreu, the architect, reasoned that though Beijing is an old city, it is also an important international city, and therefore must integrate modern architecture into its cityscape.
The initial budget for the center was US$376 million, but the final costs were over US$419 million. This means that each seat in the building is worth around US$70,000. The exorbitant cost was another source of controversy, as many believed it would be impossible to recover the investment. The Chinese government countered this, saying that the theater was not intended to be a for-profit venture.
Beijing’s “Pants”: The CCTV Headquarters
An iconic part of the Beijing skyline, the China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters is known locally as the “Big Pants” or “Big Shorts.” Designed by Rem Koolhaas, the unique 51-floor skyscraper features a pair of conjoined towers. It is located in Beijing’s Central Business District (CBD) and is one of the world’s largest office buildings.
Construction on the building began in June 2004 and it opened on January 1, 2008. The building has 5,090,000 square feet of floor space within its vertical and horizontal sections, with an empty space in the center. The building was initially constructed as three separate sections, which were later joined. The construction of the building was challenging, particularly because it is in a seismic zone.
The still-unoccupied building famously caught fire in February 2009 after being ignited by fireworks lit by CCTV employees. Controversy ensued, as the network failed to report on the story. The irony was real — CCTV was at the center of one of the biggest news stories of the year but failed to cover it. Opponents of China’s state-run media rejoiced in watching the building burn. The fire did extensive damage to the luxury Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which was located in the building. Additionally, several people were imprisoned in the building, causing concern about the safety of the structure.
Despite the controversy, the CCTV Headquarters has been called “the greatest work of architecture built in this century” and was named “Best Tall Building Worldwide” by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat in 2013. When asked about the structure, architect Rem Koolhaas said that the building “could never have been conceived by the Chinese and could never have been built by Europeans. It is a hybrid by definition.”
Beijing’s Bird’s Nest: The National Stadium
Another structure to come out of Beijing’s pre-Olympic rush was the National Stadium, known as the “Bird’s Nest.” The stadium, located in the Chaoyang District’s Olympic Green, cost US$428 million and covers 204,000 square feet. It was designed for the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics and was also used during the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
To come up with a design for the structure, there was a bidding process that included 13 final submissions. The selected design came from the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron. The design originated from a study of Chinese ceramics and used steel beams to hide supports for its retractable roof (which was later removed). These beams are what give the stadium the appearance of a bird’s nest.
Ground was broken on the stadium in December 2003, and it opened on June 28, 2008. Famed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was the artistic consultant, which boosted his reputation internationally. However, Weiwei later boycotted the Olympics as a protest against the Chinese regime and asked not to be associated with the structure.
Interestingly, the curved steel frame was constructed in sections in Shanghai and then transported to Beijing for assembly. At its height, 17,000 construction workers worked on the stadium. It was initially designed to fit 100,000 people, but 9,000 seats were removed during a simplification of the design. A further 11,000 temporary seats were removed after the 2008 Olympics, bringing the capacity down to its current 80,000.
The stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, athletic events, and football final of the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The stadium was also used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, making it the only stadium to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies.
After the Olympics, the stadium hosted sporting events and concerts. It was to be a monument of new China, with millions of tourists expected annually. However, by 2013, the stadium had fallen into visual disrepair. Still, the stadium is considered to have been quite profitable, attracting 20,000 to 30,000 visitors daily.
Beijing’s Water Cube: The National Aquatic Center
Directly across from the National Stadium is the National Aquatics Center, known as the “Water Cube.” Like the National Stadium, the Water Cube was constructed for the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The diving and swimming events were held in this facility, and 25 world records were broken there.
The design for the building was selected in 2003 out of ten proposals submitted through an international architectural competition. The chosen design came from a partnership between Chinese and Australian architects. The Chinese side selected a square shape, which represents the Earth in Chinese Culture. This is in contrast to the nearby Bird’s Nest, which is circular, representing heaven. The Australian partners proposed covering the cube with bubbles.
The Water Cube is the largest ETFE-covered structure in the world, with over 100,000 m2 of EFTE pillows (EFTE is a fluorine-based plastic). Each pillow is only 1/125 of an inch thick. Aside from its striking appearance, the EFTE covering allows more heat and light penetration than regular glass, reducing energy costs by 30%. The venue was also designed to capture and recycle 80% of the water falling on the roof or lost from pools. The structure held 17,000 spectators during the Olympic games and covers 7.9 acres.
For a time, people believed that the Water Cube was the fastest Olympic pool, due to the number of records broken there. However, all but two of the record-setting swimmers were wearing the controversial LZR Racer bodyskin, which has since been restricted. This venue also saw the greatest-ever medal haul by a single athlete in an Olympic Games. Michael Phelps won eight gold medals there, claiming first place in every event he entered and breaking seven world records.
Following the Olympics, a renovation was completed in 2010 to construct a 130,000-square-foot water park. The building was again renovated and adapted to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, where the venue hosted all curling events.
Galaxy SOHO: A Glimpse of the Future
After the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing continued full steam ahead with constructing unique, modern, and often controversial buildings. Galaxy SOHO is an urban complex that was constructed between 2009 and 2012 on the southwest corner of the city’s Second Ring Road. The building was the first in a series of three designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The other buildings are called Wangjing SOHO and Leeza SOHO.
What makes the complex interesting is that it consists of four asymmetric continuous structures that rise like hills. The four domes are connected by bridges and platforms to create a fluid environment surrounding several courtyards and a central “cavern.” It covers an area of over three million square feet, and Hadid, the architect, called it a reinvention of the classical Chinese courtyard.
The complex boasts 18 floors in total. The lower three levels host public facilities, including everything from retail shops to fitness and entertainment facilities. The levels immediately above, from the fourth to the fifteenth floor, host office spaces that can be rented by businesses. The top three levels have bars, cafes, and restaurants that offer impressive views of the city.
Though Galaxy SOHO was nominated for the Lubetkin Prize by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2013, the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center criticized the structure. They argued that the complex had damaged the old Beijing streetscape, altered the original urban plan of alleyways and courtyard homes, and was too much of a departure from the style and color scheme of the area’s original architecture.
Daxing Airport
A perhaps unexpected addition to this list is an airport — the Zaha Hadid-designed Beijing Daxing International Airport. One of two international airports serving Beijing, this airport is located outside the city center. The structure was quickly nicknamed “the Starfish” due to its shape. The airport covers 6,620 acres and features four civilian runways and one military runway. Though Beijing already had a very large international airport and a domestic airport, this third airport was proposed in 2008.
By 2012, the Beijing Capital International Airport was running near its full design capacity, with no indication that air travel would decline. Construction took nearly five years and the facility cost around US$17 billion. When accounting for structures in the periphery of the airport, the costs rise to US$46.2 billion.
Daxing is the world’s largest single-building airport terminal, covering 7.5 million square feet, and sitting on 18 square miles of land.
The airport opened on September 25, 2019, just six days before the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. The opening ceremony was attended by China’s president, Xi Jinping. Seven Chinese airlines set out on inaugural flights that day, and flights for the public began the following day. The airport won awards for best hygiene measures and best in size in the region in 2020 and also won Voice of the Customer awards in 2021 through the Airports Council International.
The airport, while a true architectural marvel, is located quite a distance from downtown Beijing. It is 29 miles south of Tiananmen Square and 40 miles away from the Beijing Capital International Airport. However, it has been connected to the city center via its own subway line — the Daxing Airport Express.
Pangu Plaza: A Dragon That Lost its Head
The Pangu Plaza is a five-building complex on Beijing’s North 4th Ring Middle Road. The plaza is a mixed-use complex containing an office building, three apartment buildings, retail shops, clubs, a hotel, and China’s IBM headquarters. This building is yet another that was constructed in the lead-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and is a neighbor to the aforementioned National Stadium and National Aquatics Center.
What makes this building unique is that it was constructed to resemble a dragon. It was designed by Chu-Yuan Lee of C.Y. Lee & Partners, the same firm responsible for the famed Taipei 101 skyscraper. Interestingly, the “tail” building of the plaza is home to a self-proclaimed 7-star hotel. However, no formal body recognizes any rating over “five-star deluxe” and hotels are traditionally not able to award stars to themselves. Still, the hotel is considered to be a top luxury hotel in Beijing and has hosted celebrities such as Bill Gates, who stayed there during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Things became complicated for Pangu Plaza when Chinese authorities took ownership of its tallest building (the dragon’s “head”) in 2016. The building had been previously owned by exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, who claimed to be a corruption whistle-blower and has been in the US since 2014. The building was then auctioned off online through Alibaba for just US$734 million. The auction was only live for 2 hours and only two offers were made.
In 2023, the building was transformed when the dragon’s “head” was removed by local authorities. They cited Feng Shui as the reason for this alteration.
