Beijing is ambitious. It's the least we can say when looking at the capital projects displayed during the Planning and Construction Sites exhibition which takes place until December 30th at the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall. For its 14th show, this event is focused on Olympic construction works.

On four floors, the gryish building covers 16,000 m² of which half is reserved for the exhibitions. On the right hand side of the Beijing Gulf bronze statue which shows geographic characteristics of the city, panels, models and other items present the 3 Beijing Olympic concepts: "Green, High-Tech and Cultural Olympics". The only flaw: there are no English translations available for the temporary exhibition is "for companies" according to a staff member. 

The 'High-Tech concept is approached on large panels describing the building process of sports venues highlights such as "The Bird's nest" or "The Water Cube". Covering a 258,000 m², the Olympic stadium whose construction started in 2003, includes 80,000 permanent seats and 110,000 temporary seats. 68 meters high, this design was selected from the work of 14 foreign architects. It will host athletics and football events. The National Aquatics Center which covers 6.28 ha also required 4 years to be finished before embracing its current rectangular shape made of reinforced concrete and steel.

Those two constuctions are located in the middle of the Olympic Green at the extreme North of Beijing central axis as one can see on the 1: 200,000 scale model which is displayed on the ground floor. Three times bigger than Central Park in New York, this 1,1135 ha Park is divided into 3 sections. In the North, there is the Olympic Forestry Park, the biggest section. The Central and Southern areas hold all the sports venues. In the future, the whole Park will include exhibition and conference Halls, stadiums and Cultural and Leisrue areas. 

Environmental Protection

The "Environmental protection" concept is particularly highlighted during this exhibition. The City plans to reach its initial urban ecological construction goals by 2010. She hopes to reduce CO2 emissions from new vehicles by more than 50%. Beijing also wants to increase waste water recycling to 2.8 million of tons per day by 2008 and look afer 90% of urban sewers.  

To reach this goal, future buildings will be equipped with a recycling rainwater system like at the softball field in Fengtain district, in southwest beijing, a recycling sytstem capable to produce heat or a sewer treatment system from greenhouses. Solar energy will plays a big part too. This energy will be used to feed airconditioning in houses or restaurants but also to provide hot water in the Olympic village. Kindergartens will also be able to decrease their energy consumption.

The 3 remaining floors of the Hall introduce local history, the different districts and the planning for the Beijing Olympics. Among the video screens, 3D and 4D movie theaters, models and other multimedia means, the masterpiece is a 1:750 scale model of Beijing which covers 300 m². Every single building, street or lake has been reproduced to the slightest detail.