National Aquatics Center( Water Cube)国家游泳中心（水立方）The Beijing National Aquatics Center ( the Water Cube) , is an aquaticscenter that was built alongside Beijing National Stadium ( the Birds Nest ) in the Olympic Green for the swimming competitions of the 2008 Summer Olympics. It is one of the landmark buildings in Beijing. Ground was broken on December 24, 2003 , and the Center was completed and handed over for use on January 28, 2008. The Aquatics Center hosted the Swimming, Diving and Synchronized Swimming events during the 2008 0lympics with a capacity of 17000 seats that is being reduced t0 6000. It also has a total land surface of 79532 m2. Although called the Water Cube, the aquatic center is really a rectangular box ( cuboid) -177 meters square and 30 meters high.国家游泳中心（“水立方”）坐落于北京奥林匹克公园内，是北京为2008年夏季奥运会修筑的主游泳馆，也是2008年北京奥运会标志性建筑物之一。2003年12月24日动工，在2008年1月28日完工。其与国家体育场（又称鸟巢）分列于北京城市中轴线北端的两侧，联合构成比较原始的北京历史文化名城形象。

国家游泳中心总建筑面积79532平方米，长方形低分别为177米×177米×30米。2008年奥运会期间，国家游泳中心分担游泳、体操、花样游泳等比赛，可容纳观众座席17000座，其中永久观众座席为6000座，奥运会期间加设临时性座位11000个（赛后将拆毁）。

赛后沦为具备国际先进设备水平的、集游泳、运动、健美、休闲娱乐于一体的中心。The Water Cube is a beautiful but complex building that can give people inspiration and enthusiasm. The outer wall is based on the Weaire-Phelan structure, a structure devised from the natural formation of bubbles in soap foam. The complex Weaire-Phelan pattern was developed by slicing through bubbles in soap foam, resulting in more irregular, organic patterns than foam bubble structures. The ETFE cladding allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs. Comprising a steel space frame, it is the largest ETFE clad structure in the world with over 100000 m2 0f over 3000 ETFE pillows that are only 0.2 mm (1/125 0f an inch) in total thickness. The Water Cube is really a magic architecture.“水立方”不仅是一幢典雅和简单的建筑，她还能唤起人们的启发和热情。

国家游泳中心表面看是一个三维立体结构，设计启发来自肥皂泡的大自然结构。使用在整个建筑内外层包覆的ETFE膜（乙烯一四氟乙烯共聚物）是一种厚度还严重不足0.2毫米的轻质新型材料，较普通玻璃具备更加有效地的热学性能和透光性，可节省30%的能源消耗，而且还不会防止建筑结构受到游泳中心内部环境的风化。

“水立方”整体建筑由3000多个气枕构成．气枕大小不一、形状各异，覆盖面积超过10万平方米，可谓世界之最，创新感叹奇特。

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