Author Description

Describing "The Bird's Nest," the "intoxicatingly" beautiful stadium built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics by Basel-based architects Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with Chinese Conceptual artist Ai Weiwei, The New York Times' Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote, "The crisscrossing columns create a Piranesian world of dark corners and odd leftover spaces--an effect that intensifies as you ascend through the structure. Light filters through the translucent roof panels, and a network of drainpipes suspended from the roof adds a tough, utilitarian feel. The feverish play of light and shadows is reminiscent of the set for a German Expressionist film. From your seat, you gaze out at the surrounding skyline, where rows of generic housing towers seem to extend to eternity." This large-format, two-volume set features one book on the construction of the stadium from 2005 to 2008, and another that presents The 24 Hour Series, a sequence of photographs taken of the stadium by Ai Weiwei once an hour for one day and night. Also featured are the major installation created by the artist and architects for the 2008 Venice Biennale of Architecture and related works produced for an exhibition in London in the autumn of 2008.