Watercube

The swimming venue for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, Watercube, was unveiled on Monday. The building is an architectural marvel.

Watercube, one of the finest examples of modern day architecture, was unveiled at a ceremony in Beijing on Monday. The venue, officially called National Aquatic Center, will be hosting the swimming competitions of the 2008 Beijing Summer Games.

There are 6,000 permanent and 11,000 temporary seats available at the Water Cube in Beijing. It will be staging 42 different events of the 2008 Summer Olympics. The events will begin on 8th August.

The building took a little more than three years to complete. It has been hailed a wonderful piece of art and dubbed as “cool”. The blue toned outside skin of the building is made of ETFE or ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene, which is a Teflon-like material. The design of the building has the effect of bubbles draping a cube. China Construction Design International, in collaboration with PTW Architects of Australia, constructed this building. The initial cost for the project was set at $ 100 million. Although, the actual cost has been kept secret, the figures are varying between $ 150 million and $ 200 million. Private contributions, to the tune of $ 110 million, were made by the people of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

The Watercube has been built in such a way so that it can be converted into a shopping center after the Beijing Summer Games. In addition to this, tennis courts, nightclubs and restaurants will also come up.

Mr Liu Qi, President of the Beijing Summer Games Committee, and the Mayor of Beijing, Mr Guo Jin Long, were present during the ceremony. My Long even went to the extent of kissing the blue waters of the pool. An event will be held next week in order to test the facilities at this venue.