雙語科技百科(近現代成就) 第127期:國家游泳中心(水立方)
National Aquatics Center( Water Cube)
The Beijing National Aquatics Center ( the Water Cube) , is an aquaticscenter that was built alongside Beijing National Stadium ( the "Bird's Nest" ) in the Olympic Green for the swimming competitions of the 2008 Summer Olympics. It is one of the landmark buildings in Beijing. Ground was broken on December 24, 2003 , and the Center was completed and handed over for use on January 28, 2008. The Aquatics Center hosted the Swimming, Diving and Synchronized Swimming events during the 2008 0lympics with a capacity of 17000 seats that is being reduced t0 6000. It also has a total land surface of 79532 m2. Although called the Water Cube, the aquatic center is really a rectangular box ( cuboid) -177 meters square and 30 meters high.
國家游泳中心（“水立方”）位於北京奧林匹克公園內，是北京爲2008年夏季奧運會修建的主游泳館，也是2008年北京奧運會標誌性建築物之一。2003年12月24日開工，在2008年1月28日竣工。其與國家體育場（俗稱鳥巢）分列於北京城市中軸線北端的兩側，共同形成相對完整的北京歷史文化名城形象。國家游泳中心總建築面積79532平方米，長寬高分別爲177米×177米×30米。2008年奧運會期間，國家游泳中心承擔游泳、跳水、花樣游泳等比賽，可容納觀衆坐席17000座，其中永久觀衆坐席爲6000座，奧運會期間增設臨時性座位11000個（賽後將拆除）。賽後成爲具有國際先進水平的、集游泳、運動、健身、休閒於一體的中心。The Water Cube is a beautiful but complex building that can give people inspiration and enthusiasm. The outer wall is based on the Weaire-Phelan structure, a structure devised from the natural formation of bubbles in soap foam. The complex Weaire-Phelan pattern was developed by slicing through bubbles in soap foam, resulting in more irregular, organic patterns than foam bubble structures. The ETFE cladding allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs. Comprising a steel space frame, it is the largest ETFE clad structure in the world with over 100000 m2 0f over 3000 ETFE pillows that are only 0.2 mm (1/125 0f an inch) in total thickness. The Water Cube is really a magic architecture.
“水立方”不僅是一幢優美和複雜的建築，她還能激發人們的靈感和熱情。國家游泳中心表面看是一個三維立體結構，設計靈感來自肥皂泡的自然構造。採用在整個建築內外層包裹的ETFE膜（乙烯一四氟乙烯共聚物）是一種厚度還不足0.2毫米的輕質新型材料，較普通玻璃具有更有效的熱學性能和透光性，可節省30%的能源消耗，而且還會避免建築結構受到游泳中心內部環境的侵蝕。“水立方”整體建築由3000多個氣枕組成．氣枕大小不一、形狀各異，覆蓋面積達到10萬平方米，堪稱世界之最，創意真是奇特。
