All the secrets inside Beijing Water Cube

It was a joke about how many swimming world records (WR)/Olympics records (OR) have been smashed in the Water Cube （水立方) - National Aquatic Center（国家游泳中心) since the first day of 29th Beijing Olympic Games. Even you broke a world record, you might not even qualify for the final contest. lol

The Secrets to Smash World Records

Gao Min mentioned four key elements:

The error tolerance for the 50m swimming lane is only 2mm, far more less than international standard of 1cm.
Water quality is better.
The floor around the swimming pool is heated to keep the athletes warm before the game.
Water recirculating process technologies on the walls of the pool. They were designed and built to absorbed more currents/waves to reduce the resistance.

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some of the features of this magnificent wonder

Cost-Effective Bubbles

This is the first time that ETFE membranes have been used as the surface of a building in China: a rare practice anywhere in the world. When the membrane concept was chosen for the building’s cover, there were some who worried that it could be fragile and might not look appealing.

Strong Cushions

The roof and the walls of the Water Cube are made of 3,000 "bubbles” with air-filled layers of the ETFE membrane. The membrane looks fragile, but a cushion can resist the weight of a car and be stretched to three or four times its size.

Breathing Building

The Water Cube is warm inside during a freezing winter with fans installed on the roof and ventilation openings at the foot of walls.

House with Sun Shade

Beams of light can penetrate the nearly transparent ETFE membrane.

Fire Resistant

The ETFE membrane is flame retardant and self extinguishing, said designer Zheng.

The Theory of Foam-Physics

Designers created the steel framework of the Water Cube based on the "foam-physics" idea, which was established by renowned British physician Lord Kelvin at the end of the 19th century. When designers of the National Aquatics Center decided to put this theory into practice, they attracted great attention among the world’s leading architects. Actually, almost everyone who has studied “foam-physics” came to visit the construction site on the Olympic Green.

Other Features

Long Life: The designed durability of the ETFE membrane is 30 years.
Changing Colours: The Water Cube can even change colours.
Sanitized by Ozone: To ensure that the quality of water in the Water Cube meets the latest standards of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), the water in the swimming pools will be disinfected using ozone so that it will not emit odours or cause harm to a swimmer's skin.
Recycled Bathwater: Bathwater will be sanitized and recycled for use in flushing toilets, cleaning garage floors and watering lawns. .
Rainwater Collection: The Water Cube has a 29,000-square-metre surface that is capable of collecting rainwater; about 10,500 cubic metres of rainwater is expected to be captured and used.
Clean Moat: The moat around the Water Cube is treated so that the water will remain clean and free of algae: it is recycled every eight hours.

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