REPORT FROM BEIJING 3: Water Cube

(above) The Water Cube, National Aquatics Center, Beijing, China (2008) with the “Bird’s Nest’ stadium behind. Photo via Wikipedia.

In July 2003, the Water Cube design was chosen from 10 proposals in an international architectural competition for the aquatic center project. The Water Cube was specially designed and built by a consortium made up of PTW Architects (an Australian architecture firm), Arup international engineering group, CSCEC (China State Construction Engineering Corporation), and CCDI (China Construction Design International) of Shanghai. The Water Cube’s design was initiated by a team effort: the Chinese partners felt a square was more symbolic to Chinese culture and its relationship to the Bird’s Nest stadium, while the Sydney based partners came up with the idea of covering the ‘cube’ with bubbles, symbolising water. Contextually the cube symbolises earth whilst the circle (represented by the stadium) represents heaven. Hence symbolically the water cube references Chinese symbolic architecture.

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 0.2 mm (1/125 of an inch) in total thickness. The ETFE cladding allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs.

The outer wall is based on the Weaire–Phelan structure, a structure devised from the natural formation of bubbles in soap lather. The complex Weaire–Phelan pattern was developed by slicing through bubbles in soap foam, resulting in more irregular, organic patterns than foam bubble structures proposed earlier by the scientist Kelvin. Using the Weaire–Phelan geometry, the Water Cube’s exterior cladding is made of 4,000 ETFE bubbles, some as large as 9.14 metres (30.0 ft) across, with seven different sizes for the roof and 15 for the walls.

The structure had a capacity of 17,000 during the games that is being reduced to 7,000. It also has a total land surface of 65,000 square meters and will cover a total of 32,000 square metres (7.9 acres). Although called the Water Cube, the aquatic center is really a rectangular box (cuboid), 178 metres (584 ft) square and 31 metres (102 ft) high.

 from Wikipedia

Text and photos below by Cheng Feng Lau:

The irony about this project is that, although the plastic, ETFE ,is supposed to be a type of self-cleaning material, the project looks incredibly dirty. Perhaps the material manufacturers underestimated the air pollution in Beijing? Certain parts of the building, inside the Voronoi structure for instance, seemed impossible to clean, yet the accumulation of dust is rather obvious.

It is  fascinating that to fix a broken “bubble,” one would simply stick a slice of special tape over the hole on the ETFE. This is such an easy fix that it sounds almost a little cheap. I wonder what this project my look like in 20 years? Will it be covered with band-aids?

I enjoy the fact that there are a lot more activity going on inside the Water Cube compared with the Bird’s Nest across the street. Inside the Bird’s Nest, there are only two things to do. One is to check out the architecture. The other is to enjoy the event going on inside, either sports or concerts. (If there are other programs within the Bird’s Nest that I didn’t notice, I think most people would not know they are there). Architecture aside, the water park is a major attraction in the Water Cube that keeps the building active and occupied. Restaurants, gift shops, museums are really secondary attractions.

One last little complaint: the renderings of Water Cube were so beautiful that disappointments were inevitable when comparing them with the actual project. It is unfortunate that most architecture publications lie. They do not show what an ordinary visitor actually sees.

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CFL