(Pics) “The Water Cube” – Beijing Olympics 2008
August 5, 2008
Situated next to the National Stadium, the National Aquatics Centre has earned itself the moniker “Water Cube” due to its remarkable structure.
Designed by Australian architects PTW, the building is not really a cube but a box measuring 584 feet square and 102 feet high.
The building’s skin is made of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE; a transparent form of Teflon) cells with either 14 or 12 sides. A space frame assembled on site from 22,000 steel tubes welded to 12,000 nodes holds the cells in place and provides a column-free structure with spans of 396 feet in either direction.
The 17,000-seater Water Cube, which will host the swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming events during the Olympics, will trap up to 90% of the solar energy to heat the pools.
Some pictures (credits to Beijing2008.com):
August 12th, 2008 at %I:%M %p
Great Post and Pictures. WOW its beautiful!!!!