Water Cube

{{Infobox swimming venue

|name = Water Cube

|logo = Water_Cube.jpg

|logosize = 200px

|logocaption =Logo of the Water Cube

|image = 国家游泳中心夜景.jpg

|imagesize =

|caption = The Water Cube at night

|fullname =National Aquatics Centre

|nicknames =

|city = Beijing, China

|capacity = 4,598 (17,000 during Olympics)

|built = 2004–2007

|opened = 2008

|construction cost = CNY940 million
USD140 million
EUR94 million

|architects = PTW Architects, CSCEC, CCDI, and Arup

|home clubs =

|poolname = Main pool

|length = {{convert|50|m|ft|abbr=on}}

|width = {{convert|25|m|ft|abbr=on}}

|deep = {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on}}

|lanes = 10

| coordinates = {{WikidataCoord|display=it}}

|footnotes = {{Infobox mapframe |wikidata=yes |zoom=15 |marker = park |coord={{WikidataCoord|display=i}}}}

|website={{url|http://www.water-cube.com|water-cube.com}}}}

The Water Cube (水立方),{{Cite news |last=Sebag-Montefiore |first=Clarissa |date=2013-06-25 |title=Mood Swings at Beijing's Water Cube |language=en-US |work=Wall Street Journal |url=http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2013/06/25/mood-swings-at-an-iconic-stadium/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |issn=0099-9660}}{{Cite news |date=2008-01-28 |title=Beijing's bubble-wrapped "Water Cube" unveiled |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.comarticle/idUSSP104153/ |access-date=2023-11-16}}{{Cite news |date=2008-08-14 |title=More Gold at the Water Cube |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/08/14/sports/olympics/0814-SWIM_index.html |access-date=2023-11-16 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |title=The Water Cube |url=http://www.water-cube.com/en/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Water Cube}} fully a.k.a. the National Aquatics Centre ({{zh|s=国家游泳中心|labels=no}}),{{Cite web |title=National Aquatics Centre |url=https://english.beijing.gov.cn/beijing2022/venues/beijing/202103/t20210316_2308897.html |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Beijing Municipal People's Government}} is a swimming center at the Olympic Green in Chaoyang, Beijing, China.

The Water Cube was originally constructed to host the aquatics competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. During the 2008 Olympics—where it hosted diving, swimming and synchronized swimming events—25 world records were broken in this facility.{{Cite web |title=外媒：9天打破25项世界纪录水立方简直成游泳圣殿 -- 中国发展门户网 |url=http://cn.chinagate.cn/sport/2008-08/19/content_16273981.htm |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=cn.chinagate.cn}} In July 2010, a renovation of the facility was completed, which included the addition of a {{convert|12000|sqm||abbr=on}} public water park. After renovation and adaptive configuration, the Water Cube also hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.{{Cite web |title=冬奥百问 {{!}} 水立方究竟如何变成冰立方？-中新网 |url=https://www.chinanews.com.cn/ty/2022/01-24/9660711.shtml |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=www.chinanews.com.cn}}

Architecture

In July 2003 the Water Cube design was chosen from 10 proposals in an international architectural competition for the aquatic center project.{{cite web

|last=Arup East Asia

|title=The Water Cube, National Aquatics Center, Beijing

|url=http://www.arup.com/eastasia/project.cfm?pageid=1250

|access-date=August 17, 2008

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604115637/http://www.arup.com/eastasia/project.cfm?pageid=1250

|archive-date=June 4, 2008

|df=mdy

}}

The Water Cube was specially designed and built by a consortium made up of PTW Architects (an Australian architecture firm),{{cite web|url=http://www.ptw.com.au/ptw_project/watercube-national-swimming-centre/|title=Water Cube - National Swimming Center|work=PTW Architects|access-date=August 5, 2015}} Arup international engineering group, CSCEC (China State Construction Engineering Corporation), and CCDI (China Construction Design International) of Shanghai.[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/may/06/research.science1 Welcome to WaterCube, the experiment that thinks it's a swimming pool] by Peter Rogers in The Guardian, May 6, 2004 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, symbolizing water. Contextually, the Cube symbolizes Earth, while the circle (represented by the elliptic stadium) represents heaven, a common motif in ancient Chinese art.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

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.{{Cite journal | last=arup.com | title=Best of What's New 2006 – Engineering | journal=Popular Science | volume=269 | issue=6 | year=2006 | url=http://www.popsci.com/popsci/flat/bown/2006/product_41.html | page=84–85 | access-date=August 17, 2008 | archive-date=September 21, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921072321/http://www.popsci.com/popsci/flat/bown/2006/product_41.html | url-status=dead }} The ETFE cladding, supplied and installed by the firm Vector Foiltec, allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs. This choice was made in view of Beijing's goal of presenting a fully "green" Olympic Games, with zero net growth in total carbon emissions.{{Cite book|title=Beijing|last=Jaivin|first=Linda|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2014|isbn=978-1780232614|location=London}} Likewise, the venue was also designed to "capture and recycle 80% of the water falling on the roof or lost from the pools."{{Cite news|title=Science in Culture: Beijing Bubbles|last=Ball|first=Philip|date=December 2006|work=Nature}}

The outer wall is based on the Weaire–Phelan structure, a structure devised from the natural pattern of bubbles in soap lather.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/7069401.stm Beijing venues – National Aquatics Center], on BBC Sports. In the true Weaire–Phelan structure the edge of each cell is curved in order to maintain 109.5 degree angles at each vertex (satisfying Plateau's rules), but of course as a structural support system each beam was required to be straight so as to better resist axial compression. 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 {{convert|9.14|m|ft|0|sp=us}} across, with seven different sizes for the roof and 15 for the walls.{{cite journal

| last = Pearson

| first = Clifford

| title = Projects: National Swimming Center

| journal = Architectural Record

| volume = 196

| issue = 7

| publisher = McGraw Hill

| date = July 2008

| url = http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/0807nationalswimming-1.asp

| access-date =August 16, 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080813094645/http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/0807nationalswimming-1.asp| archive-date= August 13, 2008 | url-status= live}}

The structure had a capacity of 17,000 during the games. It also has a total land surface of 65,000 square meters and covers a total of {{convert|32000|m2|acre|abbr=on}}. Although called the Water Cube, the aquatic center is really a rectangular box (cuboid) {{convert|178|m|ft|0|sp=us}} square and {{convert|31|m|ft|0|sp=us}} high. The building's popularity has spawned many copycat structures throughout China.Barbara Demick. [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-beijing-cube14-2009aug14,0,6430709.story "Beijing's Water Cube Still Drawing Crowds"]. Los Angeles Times. Aug. 13, 2009. For example, there is one-to-one copy of the facade near the ferry terminal in Macau – the Casino Oceanus by Paul Steelman.[http://www.oceanus.asia/ Casino Oceanus – The Unofficial Casino Oceanus Website from www.oceanus.asia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110201204824/http://www.oceanus.asia/ |date=February 1, 2011 }}

File:National Aquatics Center Construction.jpg|The Beijing National Aquatics Center while under construction

File:Beijing_National_Aquatics_Centre_1.jpg|The National Aquatics Center under construction, with the Beijing National Stadium in the background

File:Cubeinside.jpg|Inside the Water Cube on August 14, 2008

2008 Summer Olympics

The Aquatics Center hosted the swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming events during the Olympics. Water polo was originally planned to be hosted in the venue but was moved to the Ying Tung Natatorium.

Many people believed the Water Cube to be the fastest Olympic pool in the world.{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93478073|title=China's Olympic Swimming Pool: Redefining Fast|last1=Berkes|first1=Howard|date=August 10, 2008|work=NPR|access-date=August 5, 2015}} Over the course of the Games, 25 world records were broken by athletes at the Water Cube, although all but two of them were achieved by swimmers wearing the controversial LZR Racer bodyskin (which led to restrictions on the use of such suits being implemented by FINA in 2010).{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympic_games/7900443.stm|title=Goodhew demands hi-tech suit ban|date=2009-02-20|work=BBC Sport|access-date=2020-01-31|language=en-GB}}{{cite news|last1=Crouse|first1=Karen|title=Swimming Bans High-Tech Suits, Ending an Era|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/sports/25swim.html|access-date=August 5, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=July 24, 2009}}

File:Water Cube 2008.08-02.jpg|

File:Water Cube 2008.08-04.jpg|

File:Water Cube 2008.08-03.jpg|

File:Water Cube 2008.08-05.jpg|

File:Water Cube 2008.08-01.jpg|

Post-2008 Olympics usage and legacy

File:Water Cube Ice Cube Beijing 4.jpg

File:Watercube-Aquacube-Cubed'eau-水立方-2010.ogv

After the Olympics, the Water Cube was opened to the public on select days of the week beginning in June 2009, and was also used as the site for a production of Swan Lake among other shows. On 19 October 2009, the Water Cube was closed to the public to begin a renovation of a portion of the complex into a water park, led by Canadian design firm Forrec,{{cite web|url=http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/BeijingInformation/BeijingNewsUpdate/t1089220.htm|title=Water Cube will close for renovation from October 15|work=eBeijing, the Official Website of the Beijing Government|access-date=August 5, 2015}} promising "seven-story water slides and a wave machine, as well as attractions for the more land inclined such as shopping centers, cafes, and performance stages."{{Cite journal|date=August 19, 2010|title=In Pictures: Beijing's Water Cube Legacy|journal=Architects' Journal}}

The facility officially reopened on 28 July 2010, with the water park opening on 8 August 2010 (the second anniversary of the Games' opening). The renovation divided the facility into three pool areas (a main pool, Olympic "demonstration" pool, and a training pool), as well as the {{convert|12000|sqm||abbr=on}} water park area.{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/2010-07/19/content_11066091.htm|title=Water Cube set to reopen soon with a big splash|website=China Daily|access-date=2020-01-31}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-07/22/content_11033866.htm|title=Water Cube set to reopen, leisure park on way|website=China Daily|access-date=2020-01-31}}

In July 2013, the Water Cube introduced a new LED light show on its exterior, "Nature and Man in Rhapsody of Light", by artist Jennifer Wen Ma and lighting designer Zheng Jiawei. Its colors are determined by trending use of emoji on Sina Weibo, which is in turn used to calculate the "mood" of the Chinese public {{Cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/chinas-mood-in-real-time/|title=China's mood in real-time|last=Korosec|first=Kirsten|website=ZDNet|language=en|access-date=2020-01-31}}

In 2018, it was reported that the venue had achieved revenues of 124 million yuan (about US$18 million), and has been breaking even for years.{{Cite news|title=水立方：世界场馆良性循环的优等生|last=邹|first=松霖|work=China Economic Weekly 中国经济周刊|year=2019}}

2022 Winter Olympics

File:Water Cube Ice Cube Beijing 2.jpg

The Water Cube hosted the curling events during the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, a configuration nicknamed the "Ice Cube". After Beijing was awarded the Games, work began on renovations to the facility to allow it to be converted to a curling rink, including the addition of ice-making equipment and other necessary climate control and monitoring systems.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2015-08/11/content_21578806.htm|title=Water Cube to be transformed for events on ice|date=August 11, 2015|website=China Daily|access-date=2020-01-31}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201812/27/WS5c248d05a310d912140514fa.html|title=Water Cube to be frozen into Ice Cube for Beijing 2022 Winter Games|website=China Daily|access-date=2020-01-31}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1082593/beijing-2022-convertible-curling-rink|title=Convertible curling rink for Beijing 2022 soon to be completed|website=Inside the Games|date=July 25, 2019 |access-date=2020-01-31}}

It hosted its first event in this configuration, the China Junior Curling Open, in December 2019.{{Cite web|url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-12/17/c_138637779.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217174928/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-12/17/c_138637779.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 17, 2019|title=Yearender: Beijing 2022 organizers move focus from construction to operation|website=Xinhua|access-date=2020-01-31}}

Awards

{{Quote|The special award for the most accomplished work in the section Atmosphere is awarded to the Australian architecture firm PTW Architects, CSCEC + Design and Arup for the project National Swimming Center, Beijing Olympic Green, China. The project demonstrates in a stunning way, how the deliberate morphing of molecular science, architecture, and phenomenology can create an airy and misty atmosphere for a personal experience of water leisure|Quote from the Jury report of the Official Awards 9th International Architecture Exhibition – METAMORPH, Venice Biennale}}

2004: Venice Biennale – Award for most accomplished work Atmosphere section{{cite web|url=http://www.ptw.com.au/index.html |title=PTW Projects:Watercube-National Swimming Center |access-date=December 6, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819090901/http://ptw.com.au/index.html |archive-date=August 19, 2006 |df=mdy }}(page in Flash presentation)
2006: Popular Science Best of what's new 2006 in engineering
2008: NSW Project of the Year award from the Australian Institute of Project Management{{cite web|last1=Lee|first1=Ellen|title=Water Cube scoops the pool at project management awards|url=http://www.arup.com/News/2008-09%20September/09-09-08-Water_Cube_scoops_the_pool_at_project_management_awards|website=Arup|access-date=August 5, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923174333/http://www.arup.com/News/2008-09%20September/09-09-08-Water_Cube_scoops_the_pool_at_project_management_awards|archive-date=September 23, 2015|df=mdy-all}}
2009: 40th annual MacRobert Award, the UK's biggest prize for engineering innovation
2010: International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering 2010 Outstanding Structure Award

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20100402072014/http://www.water-cube.com/ Official website]
[http://www.arup.com/Projects/Chinese_National_Aquatics_Center.aspx National Aquatics Center (Water Cube)]
[http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/34283/title/A_building_of_bubbles Science News article describing the design of the building and the mathematics behind it] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227191803/http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/34283/title/A_building_of_bubbles |date=February 27, 2012 }}
[http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/watercube News and Project Information on the Watercube, Beijing]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110721163241/http://www.ingenia.org.uk/ingenia/articles.aspx?Index=463 The Water Cube's creation process]