Tuesday, January 11, 2011

National.Geographic - Beijing National Aquatics Center (Water Cube)


              The Beijing National Aquatics Center, also officially known as the National Aquatics Center, and colloquially known as the Water Cube, (simplified Chinese: 北京国家游泳中心; traditional Chinese: 北京國家游泳中心) 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 (a rectangular box). Ground was broken on December 24, 2003, and the Center was completed and handed over for use on January 28, 2008. Swimmers at the Water Cube broke 25 world records during the 2008 Olympics. The building officially re-opened on August 8, 2010. After the Olympics, the building underwent a 200 million Yuan revamp to turn half of its interior into a water park.












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