The Atlanta Falcons' Mercedes-Benz Stadium is beginning to shape up

With the recent addition of its futuristic, metallic skin (at least part of it), the Atlanta Falcons’ new roost is beginning to look like the extraterrestrial origami it’s always promised to be.

A visit to the site this past week proved that much work obviously remains for the $1.5-billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium project, but it’s finally beginning to resemble the dazzling renderings that’ve been dangled before Atlanta’s NFL and MLS zealots for almost four years now.

Falcons brass told the AJC earlier this month the stadium will definitely open next summer, even after the completion date had been moved back from March, forcing the Atlanta United soccer team to play at least some home games at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium next year.

No one’s committing to an exact completion date, but it’s looking like late June or early July, officials told the newspaper.

All of the Falcons’ preseason games and two Chick-fil-A Kickoff college games — Alabama vs. Florida State on Sept. 2 next year and Georgia Tech vs. Tennessee on Sept. 4 — will no doubt be played under the new semi-retractable roof, officials promised.

The week, the stadium is reportedly marking a key milestone with the installation of the final major steel truss for the section of the roof that won’t move.

Here’s how things are shaping up:

• Falcons: Stadium still on schedule for 2017 football season [AJC]