Unlike many other colossal buildings that have a visible lightning protector atop, the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, relies on its own steel structure to conduct lightning, a new publication revealed.

[Photo: Beijing Times]

The "Bird's Nest" has its own lightning protection network due to its seamlessly welded steel structure, the Beijing News quoted from a newly-published book, The High-Tech Olympics -- An analysis of Creative Scientific and Technical Ideas of the Beijing Olympics.

To protect spectators from lightning injuries, all parts of the building exposed to the human body have been specially treated, the author said.

The National Aquatics Center, or the "Water Cube," which doesn't have a tangible lightning protector, has received the same treatment. Its concrete basement and the steel skeleton on the ground are integrated into a cubic steel mass through the welding process, and it serves as a conductor to bring the lightning underground, the book claimed.

Furthermore, the "Water Cube" has a unique feature to endure an earthquake measuring eight on the Richter scale owing to its welded structure and its 12,000, joints which bear the weight of the project evenly, the author said.

(BOCOG October 19, 2007)