The Science Behind China's Self-Sufficient 'Water Cube' | Megastructures: Aquatics Center | Spark

For the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing, China constructed an architectural marvel. The building used for the aquatics events is self-cooling, self-heating and is made from a material that can extinguish itself from fire. On top of all this the skeleton of the building is so strong that it can withstand earthquakes. How did China create such a complex, forward thinking building? And what incredible science is behind its creation?

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[toni]

Somehow I can't imagine this surviving in Australia when tennisbal size ice flies out of the sky. When you see what it does to our cars, what would it do a building like this.🤩

[kenthansen]

Melbourne spent 1000 million dollars on the, was, Spencer St rail station. Renamed Southern Cross station. It had a skeleton steel structure with clear glazing between the steel beams.
A big hail storm came in and smashed the lot. The replacements were structural and the sunlight departed the station.

[thestarseeker]

Obviously it isn’t a perfect building, but it’s hilarious and sad how all the comments trashing it would be the complete opposite if it were the same exact thing, just located in America

[jesdakosol]

1. Hail storm can punch many holes on the Mylar sheet.
2. If there is a fire. The melting Mylar can dripping on people. And toxic fumes?
3. 10-15 years from now the cost of repaint the steel structure can be tremendous. Especially at high elevation …it needs to remove the Mylar sheet off, prime & paint, reinstalling the Mylar sheet. Also 15 years from now the labor cost will be increased too.
4. No one mention about the condensation between the outer layer and interior layer.
5. How to remove the snow off from the roof? Also sand storm can be very heavy and difficult to remove. Assume that the workers can’t step or walk on the Mylar too.
6. What will be happened 20 years from now when Mylar needs to be replace. And If the Mylar company has move on? Or the computer software to cut the Mylar no longer available?
7. 10-20 years from now, all those mega projects will need the maintenance and updating. The cost of living also will be increased. It will be a challenge.

[maureenmcmonagle]

What Id like to know is how the snow, hail, and sand will exit the roof.( being flatish ) As these can weigh tons and can cause rooves to collapse. Or at least cause the system to fail as sunlight is prevented from entry. I didnt find the answer in this video.

[garrett]

Uploaded 22 min ago about a project in use in 2008. Timely.

[dylan_curious]

There was a time when America was featured in videos like this.

[DanielWatson-vvcd]

This style of building seems alright. Adding "solar film" to the e.t.f.e pillows could help it generate electricity. And heating or cooling the air traveling through the pillows may be as more efficient way to control the temperature inside. Using an elevator scaffold along with e.t.f.e Tape could be used for making minor repairs.

However, there are a few things that could potentially go wrong.
1: A hail storm could be disasterous for this structure. Back-up pillows would have to be prefab before an incident like this happens.
2: If condensation builds up inside the pillows mold or mildew may grow. And worst of all, the trapped water and gases could explode.

[shinypeter]

Steel needs a blast furnace at 1, 500°C. to melt. Fire can not exceed 900°C.

[mrs]

The old nfl stadium for the Minnesota vikings it's roof I believe was held up by air until snow brought the roof down. To the field

[David_in_Thailand]

If you get up close, the surface material is suffering from pollution and UV degradation now.

[bespokebaitz]

a 20 mb file kept crashing their system back then 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[tedzehnder]

Who wrote this pc, the Chinese visitor`s central committee? They could have used a few more of these things around last month.Noticed there has been a lot of fire activity in tall buildings that weren`t getting put out very fast.

[ehjoepr]

Spark how do you like Nanjing zendai Himalayas Center, and architecture in it. It is very not usual, how do you think it could be better if to evolve this knowledge around China and planet places in most comfortable for everyone way

[loboalamo]

Is it sterile?
Antimicrobial, antibacterial, repels moss, algae, etc.
These things build up over time.

[BrentElisens]

All that for a swimming pool...no wonder people are struggling so severely for basic needs.

[eujebenqo]

It's the cheap insectoid architectural style next to bird architecture stadium an before early hominids concept.

[peterkompter]

sorry but l dont understand all the testingneeded, l thought other large buildings already use this plastic?

[peterkompter]

oh and all the worries they had why does no one talk about all the hot dripping plastic falling on the spectators?

[iRiShNFT]

The designers are still using windows XP ....