China, especially when looking at its major cities, isn’t exactly the model student when it comes to taking care of the environment (though China isn’t really entirely to blame). Recent construction for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games meant increased air pollution for the residents of Beijing especially, but when the dust settled, an interest in sustainability emerged in the form of the GreenPIX Wall, and, most popular, the new National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube.
A recent National Geographic special on the new buildings for the Olympic Games brought attention to the Water Cube’s unique characteristics: from new building materials to energy efficiency. Since the recent rise in environmental awareness, it seems China’s goal was give this year’s Olympics a “green” boost, evident also in their opening ceremony’s global warming commentary.
In summary, the Water Cube’s outer structure is composed of a super strong plastic material called ETFE (or Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene, which is a mouthful). Though it’s been used before, this is the first time so much ETFE has been used as one of the primary building materials (along with a maze of steel bars) for such a large building. Aside from the material allowing the “bubble wrap” aesthetic to be possible, a building of primarily ETFE has several plus sides: it is lightweight, flexible (helpful during earthquakes), can be easily repaired, super strong, puts out it’s own fires, and creates a greenhouse effect for the building, heating it naturally during the winter, minimizing energy costs.
Of course the other side of the heat-trapping capabilities is the overheating during the summer, which would obviously balance out the energy saved. As a solution, the ETFE on the Water Cube is covered in a pattern of opaque, reflective dots. The dots reflect sunlight, while still allowing a large amount of light into the building, thus easing the worry of too much heat during the summer months
Different weight dots control whether more or less heat enters through the plastic, and as each bubble was “manufactured”, and inflated separately, bubbles of different dot weight could be strategically placed in certain locations.
The building is also designed to collect and use rainwater. However, despite all these wonderful “green” qualities, one still can’t be certain whether or not the building fulfills all of it’s promises to the degree at which it is being advertised, much like any other green product or design. Supposing we give the Water Cube the benefit of the doubt, let’s hope that China and other nations continue to pursue these environmentally friendly ideas.
Images from:
http://en.beijing2008.cn/46/39/WaterCube.shtml
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