Next to the bird’s nest and national grand theatre in Beijing’s olympics district is the National Aquatics Center “Water Cube” by PTW Architects,CSCEC, CCDI, and Arup.
A soap-bubble concept for a rectangle led to a Weaire-Phelan pattern with 15 different sizes of “bubble” extensions from the walls and roof. The ETFE pillows allows light and heat penetration which has further been exploited with colored lighting at light.
The seating capacity was drastically reduced to 6,000, which disappointed many who were excited to view the 2008 olympic games. This project wasn’t without much controversy. Over 2,000 were evicted from their homes to make way for the olympics venues. Many were arrested when they spoke out.
(angus_mac_123– flickr/creative commons license)
(taso.viglas– flickr/creative commons license)
(Andrey Belenko– flickr/creative commons license)
(Bernt Rostad– flickr/creative commons license)
(angus_mac_123– flickr/creative commons license)
