Beijing booms

The International Olympics Committee was suitably impressed when it visited Beijing recently, describing preparations as "perfect". "We're extremely pleased to see how far the work has advanced," said Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the IOC's Co-ordination Commission. "We're very sure that, as has been promised, the works will be finished by the end of 2006. I don't think there's ever been an Olympic Games ready with its construction so early."

Compare this with the Greeks, struggling to finish everything for this year's show, or with London, currently lost in a fug of doubt about its bid for 2012. For China, the Olympics are a chance to show the world there's more to the People's Republic than bicycles and boiler suits.

The 19 new-build schemes that will make up 2008's Olympic experience are at various stages of development. Most of them are still in the pipeline, some with international competitions pending. Two of the most important, however, are racing ahead, having been on site since December.

The first is the eccentric National Stadium designed by Swiss architect Herzog & DeMeuron (see pages 38-42). This £275m project will resemble an enormous cake of dried noodles with its mass of intertwined columns woven around a circular plan. It remains to be seen how easy this jigsaw will be for Chinese contractors previously only stretched by identikit shopping malls.

Next door to the stadium, the foundations are being laid for the so-called Water Cube, the £66m Olympic pool (see Building, 19 March, pages 66-68). This looks like it could be another construction challenge, the building's rectangular frame supporting a complex web based on the patterns that soap bubbles make. Engineer Arup insists that the design, by Australian firm PTW, has evolved to allow ease of construction. However, with the frame's assembly still to begin on site, serious headaches could still arise.

We’re extremely pleased with the work. i don’t think there’s ever been a games ready with its construction so early

Hein Verbruggen, International Olympics Committee

Around all this construction will be the Olympic Green, a 121,500 ha swathe of land resculpted to include artificial hills and lakes. This park is one part of a wider strategy to hold a "green games". More than just a PR stunt, it seems to be a serious attempt to redress the fact that Beijing, along with Mexico City, is one of the world's two most polluted capitals. An immense green belt around the whole city has been mooted, and enough trees are to be planted in the city proper to increase green areas by 45%.

In the future, planners hope to channel redevelopment from the Olympic Green to redefine the sprawling city along a central axis. This spine already has most of Beijing's historical treasures, such as the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven – all of which have just begun long overdue restoration programmes. With simultaneous upgrades to the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs, this is an unprecedented level of heritage renewal.

And that's not all. The bizarre looping £330m skyscraper designed by architect-provocateur Rem Koolhaas for state broadcaster CCTV will also be ready to ensure global TV coverage (see pages 48-50). The skyscraper is to be a mere gateway to the new business district in the east of the city – a long-term project that will throw down the gauntlet to Shanghai, Hong Kong and other rival megacities.

Meanwhile, in one of Beijing's southern suburbs, an even more pioneering project is being planned. Here, UK-based architect Zaha Hadid has been given a million square metres to create a futuristic swarm of residential blocks. This scheme is in conjunction with SOHO China, one of Asia's most progressive developers.

The speed things are going creates a double-edged sword. because of the acceleration, people don’t have time to think about what they’re doing

Yung Ho Chang, Beijing architect

Elsewhere in the city, the US government has just begun work on an immense embassy. This £150m complex, designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill, will be the largest state department project ever to be built on foreign soil.

As easy as it is to get caught up in the hype and to wonder at the glossy CAD renderings, there is concern about how thorough the planning really is. One issue that worries many is transport, especially when the droves of sport-hungry tourists come to town. Although a space-age airport by Norman Foster should guarantee their arrival, much more infrastructure will have to be in place to ensure the rest of the city is accessible. Yung Ho Chang, director of Beijing University's School of Architecture, says serious thought must be given to sorting out traffic-clogged streets and a poorly connected subway. So far, only one project – the north-south Underground line to the Olympic Green – has begun in earnest.

Another problem Yung highlights is that, aside from the restoration of high-profile monuments, much of the old city fabric is being sacrificed in the redevelopment frenzy. "The speed things are going creates a double-edged sword. All this acceleration and momentum is necessary, of course, but because of that people don't have time to think about what they're doing."

This is an increasingly sensitive issue for Beijingers many of whom can see the wrecking ball suspended above their community. The biggest risk is the loss of the Hutongs, traditional maze-like lanes lined with small houses and quiet courtyards. One recent report says that of 3600 Hutongs that stood in 1980 only 2000 are left today and only a tiny fraction of these are deemed worthy of preservation. More alarming is the fact that many developers are ignoring the blue plates that designate homes with protection status and are turfing out these residents along with the 300,000 others who have been officially evicted. In February, Wang Qishan, the newly-elected mayor of Beijing, admitted that a number of demolitions and evictions had been conducted illegally.

All the evidence suggests that Beijing will achieve its ambition of being Asia's premier city by 2008. And if another symbol were needed to confirm this, city officials have just approved an idea for a super-sized ferris wheel which, at 210 m would trump Tokyo, which currently boasts the largest in the East.