Munich Olympic Stadium

This guide to the Munich Olympic Stadium follows a woman's nylon stocking, stretched over sticks on a drafting table in 1967, and how that scrap model persuaded a skeptical jury to accept architect Günter Behnisch's tent-like roof over a more conventional design. It traces the debate that nearly killed the idea, the juror who fought to save it, and why West Germany wanted this stadium to look so different from the one built for the 1936 Berlin games. Look up at the acrylic-glass panels slung from steel masts above you, and consider how small the idea once was.