What is the birds nest stadium?

Answer 1

The Beijing National Stadium (simplified Chinese: 北京国家体育场; traditional Chinese: 北京國家體育場; pinyin: Běijīng Guójiā Tǐyùchǎng), also known as the National Stadium(国家体育场),[1] or colloquially as the "Bird's Nest" (鸟巢) for its architecture, is a stadium in the Olympic Green in Beijing, China that was completed in March 2008.[2] The stadium is hosting the main Track and Field competitions for the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. It is located east of the Beijing National Aquatics Center. The Stadium now holds the Olympic Flame cauldron, which is shaped as a conical scroll. The cauldron was placed on the top during the opening ceremony, so that it could then be lit at the end of the ceremony. The flame will now burn there until the end of the 2008 games.

The stadium currently has a seating capacity of 91,000.The capacity will be reduced to 80,000 after the Olympic Games. It has replaced the original intended venue of the Guangdong Olympic Stadium.[6] The stadium is 330 metres (1,082 ft) long by 220 metres (721 ft) wide, and is 69.2 metres (227 ft) tall. The stadium uses 258,000 square metres (2,777,112 square feet) of space and has a usable area of 204,000 square metres (2,195,856 square feet). It was built with 36 km (22.4 miles) of unwrapped steel, with a combined weight of 45,000 tonnes (49,600 tons).[6] The stadium cost up to 3.5 billion yuan ($423 million or £266 million or €340 million or 19 tonnes of 24k gold).[6]