National Aquatics Center( Water Cube)
国家游泳中心（水立方）
The Beijing National Aquatics Center ( the Water Cube) , is an aquaticscenter that was built alongside Beijing National Stadium ( the "Bird's Nest" ) in the Olympic Green for the swimming competitions of the 2008 Summer Olympics. It is one of the landmark buildings in Beijing. Ground was broken on December 24, 2003 , and the Center was completed and handed over for use on January 28, 2008. The Aquatics Center hosted the Swimming, Diving and Synchronized Swimming events during the 2008 0lympics with a capacity of 17000 seats that is being reduced t0 6000. It also has a total land surface of 79532 m2. Although called the Water Cube, the aquatic center is really a rectangular box ( cuboid) -177 meters square and 30 meters high.
国家游泳中心（“水立方”）位于北京奥林匹克公园内，是北京为2008年夏季奥运会修建的主游泳馆，也是2008年北京奥运会标志性建筑物之一。2003年12月24日开工，在2008年1月28日竣工。其与国家体育场（俗称鸟巢）分列于北京城市中轴线北端的两侧，共同形成相对完整的北京历史文化名城形象。国家游泳中心总建筑面积79532平方米，长宽高分别为177米×177米×30米。2008年奥运会期间，国家游泳中心承担游泳、跳水、花样游泳等比赛，可容纳观众坐席17000座，其中永久观众坐席为6000座，奥运会期间增设临时性座位11000个（赛后将拆除）。赛后成为具有国际先进水平的、集游泳、运动、健身、休闲于一体的中心。
The Water Cube is a beautiful but complex building that can give people inspiration and enthusiasm. The outer wall is based on the Weaire-Phelan structure, a structure devised from the natural formation of bubbles in soap foam. The complex Weaire-Phelan pattern was developed by slicing through bubbles in soap foam, resulting in more irregular, organic patterns than foam bubble structures. The ETFE cladding allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs. Comprising a steel space frame, it is the largest ETFE clad structure in the world with over 100000 m2 0f over 3000 ETFE pillows that are only 0.2 mm (1/125 0f an inch) in total thickness. The Water Cube is really a magic architecture.
“水立方”不仅是一幢优美和复杂的建筑，她还能激发人们的灵感和热情。国家游泳中心表面看是一个三维立体结构，设计灵感来自肥皂泡的自然构造。采用在整个建筑内外层包裹的ETFE膜（乙烯一四氟乙烯共聚物）是一种厚度还不足0.2毫米的轻质新型材料，较普通玻璃具有更有效的热学性能和透光性，可节省30%的能源消耗，而且还会避免建筑结构受到游泳中心内部环境的侵蚀。“水立方”整体建筑由3000多个气枕组成．气枕大小不一、形状各异，覆盖面积达到10万平方米，堪称世界之最，创意真是奇特。