ARUP

The National Aquatics Center is located in the Olympic Green, the focal point for the Beijing Games, and is the largest Olympic Aquatics Centre ever built, seating 17,000 spectators.  The design was voted as the clear winner by the people of China in a competition for their favourite design.

Also known as the ‘Water Cube', the building's form is inspired by the natural formation of soap bubbles.  Arup's designers and engineers realised that a structure based on this unique geometry would be highly repetitive and buildable while appearing organic and random.  The result is a simple, regular building form, with very complex geometry in the facade which is used to beautiful effect.

The highly sustainable structure is clad with translucent recyclable panels that weigh just one percent of an equivalent sized glass panel.  The bubble cladding lets in more light than glass and thoroughly cleans itself with every rain shower.  It is also a better insulator than glass, and is much more resistant to the weathering effects of sunlight.

Although fragile in appearance, the Water Cube is ideally suited to the seismic conditions found in Beijing.  Arup's computer models tested resilience and show that the entire structure is so strong it can be placed on its end and still maintain its shape.

The transparent skin of the National Aquatics Center acts as a greenhouse.  It allows high levels of natural daylight into the building and harnesses energy directly from the sun to heat the pools and building.  Arup estimates that this sustainable concept has the potential to reduce the energy consumption of the pool hall by 30 per cent, equivalent to covering the entire roof in photovoltaic panels.

The Water Cube is an example of a genuine design partnership between Arup, PTW and CCDI, leading to a structure that the combined design team calls their 'common child'.  This common child is a stunning and unique building for Beijing and the world.