dezeen

the overall outer appearance is a bit of a low for me, this straight box structure. but otherwise, its pretty good. as always, plans would be interesting

the skin is very well thought.
I kinda like the idea of being a straight box as you called it. Imagine a swimming pool full of water..now, take off the walls, what do you get ?

^ I love the exterior, personally, but I can’t stand the inside. Apart from the roof, the interior is completely forgettable.

Simple and effective - kept to the original ideas too. A building that celebrates its activities and one that the people actually loves - what more can you ask for?

As for the interiors, I know they solved a lot of acoustic issues with the ETFE skin (think how it would sound when it rains), and I saw some pictures of it, its a great space for swimming events. Well executed.

that site, with the birdnest, is bound to attract billions of people for the years to come…

I personally like it’s simplicity. Although it looks a bit naive, any shape would be suitable for expressing water, since a liquid can take the form of its container….meaning the shape of the water in a swimming pool is boxy. So it’s what Ventury would call a “Duck”, because it symbolizes itself.
I agree that the interior design is a tad below expectation, but it seems quite standard and quite suited to its intended use. I’d say the roof looks fantastic from the inside.

Now i can’t get “Duck” out of my head…

kind of depressing for herzog and demeuron since the facade is so similar to their allianz-arena stadium, except that the single elements are irregular….

I have to say that the aerial view highlights how poor this design is because it will be compared to the more adventerous form of the adjacent stadium and it falls behind greatly in this aspect.

The facade is interesting and I feel more could have been done with this to interact with the stadium and create a theme for the developing area. The irregular shapes shown on the skin of the building are not ideally suited for a box shaped design and it just doesn’t work.

Night shots are interesting and look reasonable, but the three shots during the day highlight the lack of good design.

Dissapointing piece when compared to the stadium which in my opinion is quite impressive (externally at least)

It’s a shame it looks so ugly in the daytime… I wonder if the polluted atmosphere of Beijing will mean it needs cleaning all the time?

I had a friend who worked on the Herzog project. He was telling me that each bubble on the exterior facade had an individual air-pumper. Apparently, it created a lot more unnecessary noises for the swimmers, and especially divers. I’m not sure if that’s true.

Wow, amazing to see the commitment to iconic architecture … these are great examples of experimenting with interesting materials

thanks so much for the blog post!

The facade is soooooooooooooo aquatic-like.

Herzog and de Meuron’s ‘bird’s nest’ is still a stand-out. It should be.

I think the day view gives also the quality of translucens. It is transparenter as some fully glased offices towers. I have to agree, that the enterior is too simple and commercial. So it makes a Decorated Box, but a beautiful one. And the comparison to stadion: I find the swimming center more convincing.

The WATERCUBE associates water as a structural and
conceptual “leitmotiv” with the square, the primal shape of the
house in Chinese tradition and mythology. The structure of the
WATERCUBE is based on a unique lightweight construction,
developed by China State Construction Design International
(CCDI), PTW Architects. & ARUP, and derived from the structure
of water bubbles in the state of aggregation found in foam.
Behind the totally random appearance hides a strict geometry
that can be found in natural systems like crystals, cells and
molecular structures - the most efficient subdivision of 3-
dimensional space with equally sized cells. The transparency
and apparent randomness is equally transposed into the inner
and outer building-skins, made of inflated ETFE cushions. Unlike
traditional stadium structures with gigantic columns & beams,
cables & spans, to which a façade system is applied, the
architectural space, structure and facade of the WaterCube are
one and the same element. 90% of the solar energy falling on
the building is trapped within the highly efficient structural
zone and is used to heat the pools and the interior area.
Rainwater from the roof is reused, recycled and redistributed
alongside efficient pool filtration and backwash systems. The
design uses state-of-the-art technology and materials to create
a visually striking, energy-efficient, and ecologically friendly
building. Conceptually the square box and the interior spaces
are carved out of an unconfined cluster of foam bubbles,
symbolizing a condition of nature that is transformed into a
condition of culture. Together with the main stadium by Herzog
& de Meuron, a duality between fire and water, Yin and Yang, is
being created with all its associated tensions and attractions.
The Project was recently recognized at the Venice Architecture
Biennale for “demonstrating 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

You should search for the story of the engineering. how complex is the structural scheme and how it solves some problems.

it looks like an Ikea.

When i imagine water do i instantly think of bubbles? Maybe dishwater…

this is such a boring comment… but did the architect think about the climate of beijing - like it’s one of the dustiest cities in the world? Those bubble forms are going to collect gobi desert dust in about a week, after which it’ll look like something out of tatooine - more jabba’s hut that waterworld… the only way to clean it will be with a millino gallons of water, which china doesn’t exactly have a lot of. Let’s see how it looks next summer, after the olympic PR cleaning team have gone home…

Whoo likes bu-bbles?……

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo…

We like bu-bbles!………….