<![CDATA[io9: water cube]]> http://tags.lifehacker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png <![CDATA[io9: water cube]]> http://io9.com/tag/watercube http://io9.com/tag/watercube <![CDATA[Beijing Olympic Campus Looks Like CGI]]> Construction is nearly complete on the Beijing Olympic Stadium, shaped like a massive steel bird's nest, and the swimming-pool-filled Water Cube, which looks like a piece of glowing alien machinery. This is an actual photo of the buildings at night. We've also got some less-surreal glimpses of them too.

Here you can see people posing in front of the Nest last week. 78914351.jpg And here's a closeup of the crisscrossed steel girders that form the exoskeleton of the Nest. nestclose.jpg The Water Cube is actually made of high-tech materials that emulate bubbles to keep the heat inside the building.

Top image courtesy of AP; middle image by Feng Li/Getty; bottom image by Elizabeth Dalziel/AP.

]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=347049&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[High-Tech Bubbles Trap Heat In Olympic Swimming Pool]]> China is rushing to finish the 7,000 square foot "Water Cube" in time to host swimming events in the 2008 Olympics. This giant building's outer cladding, which will keep the pool warm, is based on research by physicists into "how soap bubbles might be arranged in infinite array," says architecture firm Arup. The bubbles themselves are made of a lightweight, transparent Teflon skin called ETFE, which will also make the building a super-efficient greenhouse, says Inhabitat. Images by EyePress/AP.

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