Beijing National Aquatics Center

Total area: 79,532 sq.m.
Seats: 6,000 fixed. 11,000 semi-mobile.
Sports: Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming.
Inauguration: 28th January 2008

The Beijing National Aquatics Center, colloquially known as the Water Cube, is an aquatics center that was built alongside Beijing National Stadium in the Olympic Green for the swimming competitions of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Despite its nickname, the building is not an actual cube, but a cuboid. Comprising a steel space frame, it is the largest ETFE clad structure in the world with over 100,000 m² of ETFE pillows that are only 0.2 mm (1/125 of an inch) in total thickness. The ETFE cladding allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs.

It will host the curling events at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

We are proud to announce that 60 Caleffi manifolds were used in this project.

“The former aquatic centre of Beijing has been mentioned as one of the coolest places for the next Olympics, due to its futuristic design, with semi-translucent panels in blue tones which, from the outside, look like millions of bubbles.” (source lastampa.it)