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HISTORY OF BIG SUR COAST

  A new dawn:              Locals had long called for a road along the coast to aid shipwreck victims and improve access to isolated communities.  Construction started in 1919, and 18 years, 32 tonnes of dynamite and 33 bridges later, the Big Sur stretch of California Highway One was complete.               The implausible route, with its myriad twists and turns and dramatic drop-offs, became an instant classic.  The author and painter Henry Miller fled to Big Sur in 1944 and stayed for nearly two decades.  Photographer Edward Weston and Beat Generation bard Jack Kerouac fell under its spell.  By the late 1960’s San Francisco’s counterculture revolution had swept down to Big Sur, and the likes of Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell performed on the cliff tops.              ...
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THE ULTIMATE STADUIM

 Bird’s Nest Stadium:

Bird's Nest Stadium

           Built as the principal stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the Beijing National Stadium seems as much sculpture as architecture.  Its angled, undulating form, created by seemingly random straps of steel, quickly earned it the nickname ‘Bird’s Nest’.  Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron designed the stadium, and Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was the artistic consultant.  Despite is size, every aspect is tailored for the individual.  It holds more than 80,000 people, yet every seat has a direct sightline to the arena.  There is no single, grand entrance; instead, a multitude of entrances allow visitors to seep in.  Inside, the criss-crossing beams and stairways break up the vastness of the space.  It is a wonderful example of a public space with a huge capacity that yet retains a sense of intimacy.

Colosseum:

Colosseum

           The Colosseum in Rome, at the heart of the Roman Empire, was designed to be the greatest and best: a showpiece entertainment centre worthy of the imperial Roman Capital.  An audience of 60,000 could gather in this amphitheatre to watch gladiator fights, combats with exotic animals and even mock sea battles with the arena artificially flooded.  With its marble columns, statues, silk cushions, fountains and vast awning for shade, this was a prestige building.  Commissioned by Emperor Vespasian in a bid to curry public favour, it was inaugurated in AD 80 by his son and successor, Titus, with a 100-day festival of combat and slaughter.  The Colosseum remained in use for almost 500 years.  Its skeletal ruins today lay bare its ingenious engineering without diminishing its muscular physical presence – impressive even after 2,000 years.

The Ultimate Stadium:

            Stadiums are the last word in entertainment venues: the largest – the Great Strahov Stadium in Prague, completed in 1934 – holds 220,000 people.  They are the theatres of the people, too big to be exclusive to the elite.  And they become symbols of local or national pride.  The best live up to this high status, their outer shells drawing the eye with sweeping shapes and decorative flourishes.  But they are also driven by functionality.  Tens of thousands of people must be able to arrive and leave safely within minutes, which require pinpoint planning of entrances and stairs.  Even the highest, most distant seats must have a clear view.  Good acoustics are essential: the crowd will roar, but players must be able to hear the referee’s whistle.  The wonder of it is that the Romans cracked the formula: The Colosseum provided the template from which virtually all stadiums have borrowed ever since.

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