Beijing’s iconic structure, The “Water Cube,” has been unveiled recently just in time for the Olympic games in 2008. The honeycomb structure appears to be a pool of water from an aerial view, and purposely created with the intention to host the national swimming events.
The unusual rectangular structure saturates the outside daylight and projects through out the space naturally, via each bubble. At night, the light radiates from inside out and it is designed to have a kaleidoscope of colors available, depending on the event.
"Mostly it is a building of water, so we'll mainly use the colors of water," said Zheng Fang, chief architect with China Construction Designs International.
The striking structure came to a total of “1.03 billion yuan ($143.2 million)” and is likely to have a good return on investment due to tourism dollars during the Olympic Games.
The "Water Cube" was a unique project for the Beijing Games in that it was funded by contributions from "overseas Chinese", including $25 million from late Hong Kong billionaire Henry Fok and his family.
Click here for the full story on Reuters.
(Images from Archidose.Blogspot.com, photographer Chris Bosse)
("The Water Cube" next to the "Bird's Nest" to be unveiled in March)
(Exterior facade)
(Aerial view of "The Water Cube")
(The bright lobby)
Nice photos! Happy to see the progress as it was all still under construction when I was last in Beijing.
Posted by: Beijing Darcy | March 08, 2008 at 05:50 AM