he Water Cube. It’s a fitting name for a natatorium that will ultimately look like a giant box of soap bubbles. And that’s exactly what designers had in mind when they conceived the $125 million, 80,000-square-meter National Aquatics Center, one of four main sites under construction in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Based on the geometry of bubbles, the seemingly fragile structure is an organic network of transparent ethyltetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) pillows. This recyclable, Teflonlike material weighs just 1 percent of an equivalent-sized glass panel, yet is robust enough to withstand the seismic conditions in Beijing.
What’s more, ETFE lets in more UV light than glass. As a result, the towering, translucent structure will capture and transfer 90 percent of the solar energy needed to heat the pools and interior air within its blue walls.
“The venue has several of the world’s firsts,” says Wei Kang, vice general manager and CEO of the Olympic project for the Beijing State-Owned Assets Management Co. Ltd. “It’s the biggest swimming venue in the history of the Olympics. It’s also the first time that a structure has used ETFE material so extensively on the outside; there are 100,000 square meters of ETFE on the building.”
Located just north of Beijing’s city center, the cube-shaped facility is a stone’s throw from the sweeping curves of National Stadium, where the opening and closing Olympic ceremonies will be held. In addition to the competition pool, the aquatics center will house warm-up, diving and recreational pools, and seating for 17,000 people. The facility’s exterior will feature a small river and several fountains to enhance the image and look of the building, Kang says.
“This is an important project. First, it is one of the most expensive venues, and it has more investment than the other Olympic projects,” Kang says. “The second reason is because it is a venue where we will produce a lot of Olympic medals in swimming and diving.”
After the Games, the building will expand into a multipurpose leisure center, with swimming pools, a gym, ice-skating facilities and more. Roughly 6,000 permanent spectator seats will remain. “It will be the biggest recreational and fitness center in China to serve the local communities,” Kang says.
The National Aquatics Center broke ground in late 2003 and will be completed next year. Trial runs begin in 2007.
Two Australian firms, PTW Architects and Ove Arup Australasia Engineering Group, won the contract to design the center, beating out proposals from 10 other nations, including the United States. The creative consortium that helped fine-tune the construction included the China State Construction Engineering Corp. and its Shenzhen Design Institute.
