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 | The Bird Nest National Stadium lit up in Beijing, China, on July 29, 2008. click to open  |  | Volunteers keep themselves cool at a rhythmic fountain in front of the Olympic National Stadium, known as Bird's Nest in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 20, 2008. click to open |  | Vehicles pass a major thoroughfare towards the China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters (R) in Beijing July 18, 2008. Beijing's Olympic construction boom has bequeathed an 800-year-old city with some of the world's most futuristic architectural statements, potent symbols of a resurgent power's desire to showcase its development and mastery of technology. Designed by Rem Koolhaus' Office for Metropolitan Architecture as a subversion of the traditional skyscraper, the nearly completed CCTV headquarters joins two towers sloped together with a gravity-defying canopy at 80 storeys' height. click to open |  | Visitors to the Olympic Green walk near a sculpture and the iconic Bird's Nest National Stadium in Beijing, Friday, July 18, 2008. Organizers are putting the final touches to the sprawling Olympic Green where the main venues for the Olympic Games are located. click to open |  | A worker walks atop the roof of the National Stadium (R), also known as the Bird's Nest, as cleaners abseil down the exterior of the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube, at the Olympic Green in Beijing July 17, 2008. While feats of athletic brilliance may be the main focus of cameras during the Beijing Olympics, the telegenic venues set to host the athletes will draw their own share of gasps from admiring spectators. Beijing's Olympic construction boom has bequeathed an 800-year-old city with some of the world's most futuristic architectural statements, potent symbols of a resurgent power's desire to showcase its development and mastery of technology. click to open |  | A view of the Olympic Green is seen from inside the lattice steel structure of the Bird's Nest National Stadium in Beijing, Thursday, July 17, 2008 click to open |  | Two Olympic venues, the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube, left, and the National Olympic Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, at right, are seen in Beijing click to open |  | The new China Central Television headquarters building is seen in Beijing Thursday July 17, 2008. The building consists of two angled towers connected at the top to form a continuous loop of horizontal and vertical sections. The spectacular 230 meter (755 foot) building, one of Beijing's tallest, will house more than 10,000 staff. The building is one of a series of landmarks, notable for their futuristic design, that will greet visitors to the Olympics Games, which open Aug. 8. click to open |  | The Bird Nest National Stadium lit up for a rehearsal of the opening ceremony is reflected in a pool of water in Beijing, China, Wednesday, July 16, 2008. click to open |  | Cleaners stand in water as they scrub the outside of the National Grand Theatre which has been nicknamed the "egg", in Beijing July 11, 2008. click to open |
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