Yes the day I have been waiting for has finally come (well one of them anyway ha ha ha). One of the most exciting and innovative buildings in the world has just opened - yes China's new National Aquatic Centre (or the 'Water Cube') is now open!The building is designed on the premise that if you imagine you are in a lovely bubbly spa, and then take out a neat cube of the water and bubbles you have the design of the Water Cube. When you are inside the building, it should appear as though you are looking through the walls of bubbles.
The technology for this building is both innovative and incredible. The BBC quotes that "The cushions in the outer layer of the building comprise over 100,000 square metres of ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene), a plastic with a melting-point of 275C (and) no fewer than 6,700 tonnes of steel and 1,300 tonnes of welding rods were also used in the construction.
VOA adds "the Water Cube's thick, bubbled surface allows 90 percent of 
sunlight into the venue and acts as a greenhouse to save energy.
sunlight into the venue and acts as a greenhouse to save energy.I can't find a photo but I have seen an artist's impression of it being lit up at night-time. Even more spectacular :-)
Now we just need to wait for the "Bird's Nest" (which you can see in the background of the last picture) which promises to be just as exciting.
6 comments:
Pretty amazing building, although in my opinion rather ugly from the outside ...
No prob anony - I think my passion for this building is unique amongst my peers :-) although you are more generous in your critique than some others ha ha ha
Mmmm well we dont share a taste in achitecture...Christ the money wasted on the olympics...dont start me on that topic..MMmmmm
heading back to random to do post lol, so I dont clog up ur comments with my ranting
i like the birds nest, only cause i like the messiness of it all, the watercube is kinda freaky tho. i hate that countries tend to sweep all their issues under the carpet when they host the olympics, just thinking about all the homeless and Indigenous peoples from inner sydney during the olympics makes my blood boil x
Certain irony in that Miss K..that it was the talented Kathy Freeman chosen to light the tourch...
Did you ever watch the series of 'The Games' God i have to get that set on DVD...hello b'day in May...lol
"The Games' was one of the best bits of television I have ever seen - I loved the 96 m track (or was that 94 m) :-)
As for my vent on the Olympics generally, I will save that for another post ....
Post a Comment