Olympic Games Structures and Other Prominent Buildings in Beijing - A Case Study of Post-occupancy Evaluation

The prominent megastructures of Beijing, designed by stellar architects, are pushing the city into the world's limelight. Apart from notable exceptions, such as the National Theatre and the CCTV headquarters, most of the structures are being built in preparation for the Olympic Games, to be held in Beijing in August 2008. The 16-day sports event has attracted more than US$100 billion in direct and indirect investment, mainly in buildings and the relevant infrastructure. This study aims to reveal how these prominent structures are used during real operation, and to explore their functional, social, and economic effects. To achieve these aims, the project intends to describe the complicated technical aspects of the prominent megastructures in architectural language; to study how end-users utilize, experience, comment on, and respond to the buildings; to examine their functional, social, and economic effects; and to provide lessons for the future development of megastructures for Olympic Games and other events.