DESIGN STUDIO AIR
Water Cube-Beijing National Aquatics PTW architects,Peking China,2008 The exciting factor about the Water Cube design is the structure of the building. It is the structure of assuming the form of water bubble’s molecular structure is in a continues array. Every bubbles of the building is various and the building skin is made of inflated ETFE cushions. The building is so massive and innovative that preparation before construction is complicated. This precedent can totally reflect how computing has great contribution in architecture and fabrication. First of all, without computing technology the molecular structure will not be able to apply. It shows the biological model is suitable for applying in architectural form. Moreover, nowadays architects are sure to use a specific forms, they are seeking for the solution instead of thinking how to make it workable. Secondly, because it is a big scale building and every bubbles structure is various, the design of structural steel beam has about 22000 variations. In order to determine the design method, people use software to bring from 22000 down to 3 sets of choice. Moreover, the structural analysis and design were written respectively in the Visual Basic 6.0 and Strand 7 Finite Element Software. To allow process documentations, all files were translated into 3D cad model. It only took 25 minutes to finish. It is hard to imagine doing file translation of every single structure members manually which in total at least 22000 steel beams.5 Computing helps a project from design to construction. It makes design concepts harder and the process easier. It also means details are basically all done in computer. Ever since there is unclear things about at site construction, people can just print out a part drawings from the 3D model for guideline.