Water Cube adds new facilities
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 20, 2019
The iconic Water Cube (National Aquatics Center) for the Beijing Summer Olympics has added new facilities on Monday, as the construction of a new venue including ice rinks was completed.
The venue, which is located adjacent to the Water Cube－now transformed into the "Ice Cube" for the 2022 Winter Olympics－will be used as a support facility for the competitions during the Games and could potentially be used as a warmup area for athletes.
The new venue includes a standard hockey rink with an area of 1,830 square meters and four standard curling tracks that are 45 meters long and 5 meters wide. It is planned as a permanent legacy of the Winter Olympics following the hosting of the 2022 event, and will serve as a platform to popularize curling and other ice sports.
The construction was funded by the Beijing State-owned Assets Management Company, and contracted by the North China Branch of China Construction First Building Group.
"The construction must fully implement the Olympic spirits of green, shared, open, and clean," said Wu Xiaonan, vice president of Beijing State-owned Assets Management Company. "As the investor and proprietor of this project, we will make sure that its quality can meet the demands of the Winter Olympic Games."
Wu said that as early as in the planning stage , the venue had actively responded to the call for sustainable development, and decided to utilize the underground space of the South Square of Olympic Park to minimize the use of additional land.
In terms of architectural design, Zheng Fang, chief designer of the project, said that the venue has adopted the design concept of "passive architecture," which means it not only saves energy, but also effectively ensures steady temperatures and humidity. Besides, in order to ensure the integrity of the square landscape, the ground part of the ice rink has adopted the original landscape design concept of the Water Cube by setting up three structures with the shape of a water droplet, which will serve as the entrance to the venue and enable ventilation. The venue is also equipped with a light well that is 13 meters in diameter along with 19 light pipes to provide natural lighting, and is supposed to save about 26,000 kWh every year.
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