The Water Cube

The National Aquatics Center in Beijing China is an architectural marvel. From the picture on page 166, the walls seem to be semi-transparent to some extent. How does one make a semi-transparent wall that can support anything? 

The building seems to be very large, and it is very cool to look at. Even though the architect did not use water, or anything looking like water, I still get a sense of water when I look at it. After doing some research on it, I discovered that the walls can actually change color. How cool is that?

So it turns out that I have seen this building before. In 2008, it was home to the Olympic swimming competitions. who would have known that most of the people in the class have already seen a building that is being featured in our book?

The building has gained popularity ever since it was built, and many movie productions have featured scenes filmed in the Water Cube, including the recently released Black Swan.

The building has one several awards. In a report from a jury who selected the building as its winner, they said: 

"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 Centre, 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"

The building still maintains its popularity as a tourist attraction when it underwent a two year revamp that turned a large section of the building into an indoor water park.