China's Bubbly Aquatics Center Nears Completion

Tim McKeough
07.03.07 2:00 AM

A solid block of water appears to have rained down on Beijing's Olympic Green. While most architecture buffs have been focused on Herzog & de Meuron's National Stadium -- dubbed the Bird's Nest for its curved shape and overlapping structural supports -- its neighbor, the National Aquatics Center, just might steal the show come opening day. Designed by Australia's PTW Architects, engineering firm Arup, and China State Construction Design International, the so-called Water Cube has a structural system unlike any other building. No wonder -- it's based on an age-old physics problem related to bubbles.
Left: Bird's Nest or bubbles? The refreshing Water Cube rises in front of the main Olympic stadium in Beijing. PTW, Arup and CCDI won an international competition to build the National Aquatics Center with a design that resembles a heavy-duty block of flavor-free Jell-O.