Designers of the "Bird’s Nest," magicians of material and skin
A partnership of the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, one of the most esteemed pairs in contemporary architecture. They pursue no fixed style, but explore "material" and the "skin" of a building with near-obsession: for every project they ponder how to give it a unique identity and texture through unexpected materials, textures, and surfaces. Their works include the main stadium of the Beijing Olympics, the "Bird’s Nest" — weaving steel into a huge net like a natural nest — and Tate Modern in London (a former power station turned into a top gallery). They proved that a building’s charm can hide in its "skin" — the material itself can tell the most moving story.
Designing the main stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Herzog and de Meuron did not take the usual bowl route. They crossed and wound huge steel beams into a net-like structure like a natural bird’s nest — structure as appearance, load-bearing as ornament. This stadium, nicknamed the "Bird’s Nest," turned cold steel into a warm, organic, unforgettable giant weaving.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.