Schaub and Schindelm’s documentary follows two Swiss star architects on two very different projects: the national stadium for the Olympic summer games in Peking 2008 and a city area in the provincial town of Jinhua, China. Architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron are literally building bridges between two cultures, two architectural traditions, and two political systems. Their work doesn’t simply enhance China’s great international debut, but serves the everyday needs of the Chinese population. “Bird’s Nest” presents the Basle architects as they find solutions not in the comfort of an ivory tower but in encounters and friction on the ground.

China is changing fast. More building work went on in China last year than in the whole of Europe over the last few years. Internationally reputed architects are in demand.

The Basle-based star architects Herzog & de Meuron (Tate Modern in London, Allianz Arena football stadium in Munich, De Young Museum in San Francisco, among other projects) have been commissioned to build the National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics. The two architects have another project in progress in the Chinese province, where they are building an entire district for 300,000 people in Jinhua, a city with 3 million inhabitants. This project caters for the daily needs of the Chinese population.

The documentary by Christoph Schaub and Michael Schindhelm shows how the Chinese culture affects the construction work of the architects: The specific architectonic form and the struggle to achieve it give us information about the society, the culture and everyday life in China. BIRD’S NEST - HERZOG & DE MEURON IN CHINA explores how these prestige buildings are being built in China. On the one hand, the documentary attempts to understand the two architects’ very own method of contextual building applied successfully again and again. On the other hand, it explores the Chinese side: their intentions, their expectations, and their strategies in this complex creation process.