The Water Cube
04-Aug-08
The National Aquatics Center in Beijing.
“…The Water Cube was initially designed by PTW Architects (an Australia Architectural company) [2], CSCEC International Design and Arup with structural Engineers Arup conceiving the structure. The structure was built by CSCEC (China State Construction Engineering Corporation). Comprising a steel space frame, it is the largest ETFE clad structure in the world with over 100,000 m² of ETFE pillows that are only eight one-thousandths of an inch in total thickness,[3] The ETFE cladding allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs[3].
The outer wall is based on the Weaire-Phelan structure, a foam (structure formed by soap bubbles).[4] The pattern is formed by taking a slice through the foam, and it was chosen in preference to the Kelvin foam because the more complex Weaire-Phelan structure results in more irregular, organic patterns than slices through the regular Kelvin foam.[5]
The structure will have a capacity of 17,000[3]during the games that will be reduced to 6,000 afterwards. It also has a total land surface of 65,000 square metres and will cover a total of 7.8 acres (32,000 m²)[3]…”