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Located in Beijing Olympic Park, the National Aquatics Center is one of the landmark buildings of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. During the Olympic Games, it hosted swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo and other competitions, with audience seats 17000. After the Games, an international advanced activity center integrating swimming, fitness and leisure will be built.
The "Water Cube" and the National Stadium "Bird's Nest" are located on both sides of the central axis, and one side is round, echoing each other from afar, forming a unique landscape of "People's Olympics". The whole "Water Cube" is divided into four floors, of which the first floor is the competition work area, the first and second floors are the sightseeing area and the auditorium respectively, and the third floor is reserved for venues.
The architectural structure of "Water Cube" comes from the concept of soap bubble accumulation. Because each air cushion is an irregular polyhedron to create the feeling of water molecules, the steel structure supported by air cushion also needs multi-dimensional space of 12 or 14. This kind of steel structure is the first time in China and even in the world.
The skin of "Water Cube" consists of more than 3,000 air pillow bubbles made of irregular ETFE films. A 2-meter-high guardrail was set around the venue, and a moat with a width of 6 meters and a depth of 0.5 meters was dug in the guardrail. Because the air cushion is translucent, birds will not stay on it, and the edge of the air cushion frame on the roof is also equipped with extremely thin steel wires to prevent birds from damaging the air cushion. Inside the venue, spectators can only get close contact with the air pillows in the bubble bar of 170 square meters, and other areas are not allowed to touch.
In 2009, a large-scale acousto-optic waterscape symphony concert-Dream Water Cube will be held. This concert combines lighting, laser, waterscape and world famous songs, and has become a highlight of Olympic venues tourism activities with its super performance lineup, dazzling dance lighting and shocking audio-visual effects.
One of the landmark venues of the 2008 Olympic Games, swimming and diving competitions are held here.