2008 and What it means, to me.

I would first like to wish all a Very Happy New Year. I would think that along with this an applogy for the delay in blogging would be just apt. A month of exams sent my brains into a state of recession. But never mind all that. We have lots to look forward to this year and thats what I intend this post to be. A preview.

2008 brings a lots of varied and important events from US Presidential Elections in November, Beijing Summer Olympics in August and locally the opening of Bangalore's very own International Airport sometime in Mar/April. It is doubtless that after some interesting work in the Athens Olympics by Santiago Calatrava, which of the previous topics would most interest us. No Olympics would disappoint in the Architectural sense and definitely not if China is involved.

There are three important projects that I would like to look at,
The "Bird's Nest" - the National Stadium by Herzog and de Meuron;
The "Water Cube" - the National Aquatics Center by PTW + CCDI + Arup and
The "CCTV" building and its sister the "TVCC" building by Rem Koolhas's OMA - the most expensive building in the world.

Ok, lets face it, these buildings are definitely engineering marvels. China is looking to prove its Economic Prowess, and what better means to showcase it than in the Olympic Games. Which brings me to a slightly disturbing thought, "Do the Chinese really know what the Rem Koolhas and Herzog de Meuron are trying to achieve in the large canvas they have provided?" Probably not.