Building between two cultures, two architectural traditions and two political systems: the documentary by Christoph Schaub and Michael Schindhelm shows two very different building projects in China by the Basle-based star architects Herzog and de Meuron: the National Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and an entire district in the town of Jinhua. One is tailored to China's international appearance; the other caters for the daily needs of the population.
China is changing fast. More building work went on in China last year than in the whole of Europe over the last few years. Internationally reputed architects are in demand.
The Basle-based star architects Herzog & de Meuron (Tate Modern in London, Allianz Arena football stadium in Munich, De Young Museum in San Francisco, among other projects) have been commissioned to build the National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics. The two architects have another project in progress in the Chinese province, where they are building an entire district for 300,000 people in Jinhua, a city with 3 million inhabitants. This project caters for the daily needs of the Chinese population.
The documentary by Christoph Schaub and Michael Schindhelm shows how the Chinese culture affects the construction work of the architects: The specific architectonic form and the struggle to achieve it give us information about the society, the culture and everyday life in China. "Bird's Nest. Herzog & de Meuron in China" explores how these prestige buildings are being built in China. On the one hand, the documentary attempts to understand the two architects’ very own method of contextual building applied successfully again and again. On the other hand, it explores the Chinese side: their intentions, their expectations, and their strategies in this complex creation process.

Text edit by T&C Film, January 2008

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review:  Peter Popp, "Bird's Nest. Herzog & de Meuron in China", Detail 6/2008 [Einfach Bauen/Simple Forms of Construction/Construire simple], "Berichte-Reports" p. 604