Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment. The firm is present in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and has over 10,000 staff based in 92 offices across 37 countries. Arup has participated in projects in over 160 countries.^[2]

Arup is owned wholly by trusts, the beneficiaries of which are Arup's past and present employees, who receive a share of the firm's operating profit each year.^[3]

History[link]

The firm was founded in London in 1946, as the Ove N. Arup, Consulting Engineers by Sir Ove Nyquist Arup. Sir Ove set out to build a firm where professionals of diverse disciplines could work together to produce projects of greater quality than was achievable by them working in isolation. In 1963, together with the architect Philip Dowson, Arup Associates^[4] was formed to offer multi-disciplinary architectural and engineering services. In 1970, the firm reformed as "Ove Arup & Partners" and, in the same year, Ove Arup delivered "The Key Speech", setting out values and a future vision for Arup.^[5]

Notable projects[link]

Angel of the North

Coventry Cathedral, showing the new building by Arup in the background.

It is best known for its design work for the built environment.^[6][7] Projects to which it has contributed include the Sydney Opera House, which is largely credited with launching Arup into the premier league of engineering consultancies.^[8]

Africa[link]

• Letsibogo Dam, Botswana (design and geotechnics, 1997)
• Constitutional Court, Johannesburg, South Africa (multidisciplinary engineers and project manager, 2004, architect: OMM)
• Scottish Livingstone Hospital, Molepolole, Botswana (design and construction supervision, 2007)
• Central Terminal at OR Tambo International Airport (conceptual design, masterplanning and project management, 2009, architect: Bentel Abramson & Partners)
• Green Star (South Africa), a green building rating system based on the Australian Green Star Offices Tool
• Dwabor Kindergarten, Ghana (design and engineering, 2010)
• Gautrain Rapid Rail Link Johannesburg to Pretoria, Sandton to OR Tambo International Airport, South Africa (concept studies and independent certification, 2010)

The Americas[link]

• Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, USA (mechanical and electrical engineers, 2002, architect: Rafael Moneo)
• De Young Museum, San Francisco, USA (mechanical and electrical engineers, 2005, architects: Herzog & de Meuron)
• Michael Lee-Chin Crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (structural, mechanical and electrical engineers, 2007, architect: Daniel Libeskind)
• California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, USA (structural and services engineers, 2008, architect: Renzo Piano)
• Y2E2 Building, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA (mechanical and electrical engineers, 2008, architect: Boora Architects)
• New Tappan Zee Bridge (Hudson River), New York, USA (concept studies, 2009)
• Fulton Street Transit Center, New York City, USA (structural engineers, ongoing, HDR Daniel Frankfurt/Page Ayres Cowley Architects/Grimshaw Architects/Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects)
• 2nd Avenue Subway, New York City, USA (tunnel engineering, ongoing)

Asia[link]

CCTV headquarters in Beijing's central business district nearing completion (August 2008).

Marina Bay Sands - Singapore

Beijing National Stadium

• HSBC Main Building, Hong Kong (civil and structural engineers, 1985, architects: Norman Foster)
• Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan (structural and services engineers, 1994, architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop )
• Petron Megaplaza, Makati, Philippines (structural engineers, 1998, architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill)
• International Finance Centre, Hong Kong (structural and geotechnical engineers, 2003, Rocco Design Architects)
• National Aquatics Centre (Water Cube), Beijing, China (design and structural engineers, 2008, architects: PTW Architects/CSCEC/CCDI)
• Beijing National Stadium (the "Bird's Nest"), Beijing, China (structural engineers, 2008, architects: Herzog & de Meuron/China Architectural Design & Research Group/Ai Weiwei)
• CCTV Headquarters, Beijing, China (structural engineers, 2008, architects: Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren/OMA)
• Fusionopolis, Singapore (structural and specialist engineers, 2008, architects: Kisho Kurokawa)
• Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India (full engineering services, 2008, architect: Integrated Design Associates)
• Singapore Flyer, Singapore (structural engineers, 2008, architects: Kisho Kurokawa/DP)
• Stonecutters Bridge, Hong Kong (bridge engineers, 2009, architect: Dissing+Weitling)
• Dongtan Ecocity, Shanghai, China (design and masterplan, 2010)
• Canton Tower, Guangzhou, China (structural engineers, 2010, architects: Mark Hemel/Barbara Kuit/IBA)
• Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, Singapore (structural and specialist engineers, 2010, architects: Moshe Safdie/Aedas)

Australia[link]

Sydney Opera House

30 St Mary Axe ("the gherkin")

Kurilpa Bridge Brisbane

• Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia (structural engineers, 1973, architect: Jørn Utzon)
• Melbourne Museum, Melbourne, Australia (civil and structural engineers, 2000, architects: Denton Corker Marshall)
• Swan Bells, Perth, Australia (structural engineers, 2000, architects: Hames Sharley)
• Goodwill Bridge, Brisbane, Australia (bridge design, 2001, architects: Cox Rayner)
• National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Australia (structural engineers, 2001, architects: Howard Raggatt)
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (structural engineers, 2003, architects: Mario Bellini)
• Suncorp Stadium Lang Park redevelopment, Brisbane, Australia (masterplanning, civil and structural engineers, 2003, architects: Populous/PDT)
• State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (structural engineers, 2004, architects: Ancher Mortlock & Woolley)
• Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia (civil and structural engineers, 2005, architects: MCG5)
• Australian Synchrotron, Melbourne, Victoria (specialist engineering, 2007)
• Kurilpa Bridge, Brisbane, Australia (bridge design, 2009, architects: Cox Rayner)
• Melbourne Recital Centre & Melbourne Theatre Company Theatre, Melbourne, Australia (acoustic and theatre engineers, 2009, architects: Ashton Raggat McDougall)
• Andrew Boy Charlton Pool, Sydney, Australia
• 30 The Bond, Sydney, Australia
• Parramatta Transport Interchange, Sydney, Australia
• Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia
• Queen St. Mall Central Structure, Brisbane, Australia
• SAFElink Ipswich Motorway Upgrade, Brisbane, Australia
• K2 Sustainable Housing, Melbourne, Australia

Europe[link]

The Millennium Bridge in London.

• Coventry Cathedral, UK (structural engineers, 1962, architect: Sir Basil Spence)
• Pompidou Centre, Paris, France (structural and service engineers, 1977, architects: Renzo Piano & Richard Rogers)
• The Barbican Centre, London, UK (civil and structural engineers, 1982, architects: Chamberlin, Powell and Bon)
• Lloyds Building, London, UK (building engineers and project planners, 1986, architect: Richard Rogers)
• Angel of the North, Gateshead, UK (advanced structural research, 1998, designer: Antony Gormley)
• The London Eye, London, UK (original design with Marks Barfield Architects taken to tender stage as a 150m diameter wheel with 36 capsules 135m^[9])
• Millennium Bridge, London, UK (bridge engineering, 2000, architects: Foster + Partners and Sir Anthony Caro)
• Øresund Bridge, Denmark / Sweden (planning and bridge engineering, 2000, architects: Dissing+Weitling)
• Sony Center, Berlin, Germany (structural and environmental engineers, 2000, architect: Helmut Jahn)
• City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England, UK (Arup Associates architects, 2002)
• 30 St Mary Axe ("The Gherkin"), London, UK (structural engineers, 2004, architect: Norman Foster)
• Scottish Parliament Building, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (structural, civil, façade, geotechnical, blast and landscaping engineers, 2004, architect: Enric Miralles)
• Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany (structural engineers, 2005, architects: Herzog & de Meuron)
• Arnolfini refurbishment, Bristol, England, UK (structural, mechanical and electrical engineers, 2005, architects: Snell Associates)
• Casa da Música, Porto, Portugal (building engineers, 2005: architects: Rem Koolhaas/OMA)
• Restoration program of Brunel's SS Great Britain, Bristol, England, UK (civil and structural engineers, 2005, architect: Alex French Partnership)
• High Speed 1, UK (rail engineering, 2007)
• Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, England, UK (civil engineers, 2008, architect: Richard Rogers)
• Snowdon Summit Building, Wales, UK (structural engineers, 2009, Ray Hole Architects)
• Grand Canal Theatre, Dublin, Ireland (acoustic, theatre technical, structural and building services engineers, 2010, architect: Daniel Libeskind)
• London Aquatics Centre, London, UK (structural and services engineers, 2012, architect: Zaha Hadid)
• Nou Mestalla Stadium, Valencia, Spain (structural engineers, ongoing, architects: Reid Fenwick Asociados)
• Shard London Bridge, London, UK (services engineers, ongoing, architect: Renzo Piano)
• European Central Bank Headquarters, Frankfurt, Germany (building services engineers, ongoing, architect: Coop Himmelb(l)au)

Sports[link]

Arup Associates had its own sports division, Arup Sport, specialising in designing, consulting and structural engineering for sporting facilities such as stadia.^[10] Many of Arup's modern stadia are designed with a contemporary, distinctive edge and the company strives to revolutionise stadium architecture and performance.^[10] For instance, the Bird's Nest Stadium for the 2008 Olympics was complimented for its striking architectural appearance^[11] and the City of Manchester Stadium for the 2002 Commonwealth Games has stairless entry to the upper tiers through circular ramps outside the stadium.^[10] The most notable stadium projects led by Arup remain the City of Manchester Stadium (2003), Allianz Arena (2005), Beijing National Stadium (2008) and the Donbass Arena (2009).

• 

  The City of Manchester Stadium in the UK, for 2002 Commonwealth Games and home to Manchester City F.C.

• 

  The Allianz Arena in Germany, home of FC Bayern Munich

• 

  The 'Bird's Nest or Beijing National Stadium, for 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing, China

• 

  Beijing National Aquatics Centre at night

Awards[link]

Casa da Música

The Casa da Música, designed by Arup and Office for Metropolitan Architecture was nominated for the 2007 Stirling Prize.

Arup's work with The Druk White Lotus School, Ladakh, won them Large Consultancy Firm of the Year 2003 at the British Consultants and Construction Bureau - International Expertise Awards, 2003 building on their triple win at the 2002 World Architecture Awards.^[12]

Arup was awarded the Worldaware Award for Innovation for its Vawtex air system in Harare International School.^[13]

Arup Fire has won the Fire Safety Engineering Design award four times since its creation in 2001.^[14] The 2001 inaugural award was won for Arup's contribution to the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK, the world's largest greenhouse. In 2004, the design for London's City Hall was appointed joint winner. In 2005, the Temple Mills Eurostar Depot won. The 2006 winning entry was for Amethyst House, a nine storey building with an atrium from the ground to the top, in Manchester, UK.^[15] More recently, Dr Barbara Lane, Associate Director with Arup, won the Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Medal^[16] for her outstanding contribution to British engineering on design of structures for fire.

Arup was also awarded Royal Town Planning Institute Consultancy of the year award in 2008.

Mike Glover is the recipient of the 2008 Institution of Structural Engineers' Gold Medal.

Arup was awarded the 2010 Live Design Excellence Award for Theatre Design for the integrated theatre and acoustic team's design for the new Jerome Robbins Theatre, created for Mikhail Baryshnikov and The Wooster Group.^[17]

The Evelyn Grace Academy, London designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and Arup won the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize 2011.

Fellows[link]

Arup Fellow is a lifelong honorary title awarded to very few individuals in the firm. It acknowledges the highest design and technical achievements of an Arup person, not only within the firm, but also in the industry as a whole. They are considered role models with world-class expertise who put theory into effective practice.

The current fellows are^[18]: Cecil Balmond, Tristram Carfrae, Pat Dallard, Naeem Hussain, Alisdair McGregor, Mike Glover, Andy Sedgwick, Harry Hansen, Brian Simpson, Adam Stojanovski, Michael Willford, Corinne Swain, Peter Johnson, Martin Manning, Alan Burge, Jack Pappin, Davar Abi-Zadeh, Raymond Yau and Chris Twinn.

Notable alumni and current staff[link]

• Sir Ove Nyquist Arup (1895-1988), structural engineer, and founder of the company.
• Peter Dunican (1918-1989), structural engineer, first chairman of Ove Arup Partnership (1977-1984), and President of the Institution of Structural Engineers in 1977 and 1978.
• Sir Jack Zunz (1923-), civil engineer, and principal structural designer of the Sydney Opera House.
• Sir Philip Dowson (1924-), architect, founding partner of Arup Associates, recipient of the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture 1981, and President of the Royal Academy 1993-1999.
• Povl Ahm (1926-2005), structural engineer, principal engineer for Coventry Cathedral, and chairman of Ove Arup & Partners 1984-1992.
• Professor Sir Ted Happold (1930-1996), structural engineer, executive partner for the Pompidou Centre, and founder of Buro Happold in 1976.
• Bodil Kjær (1932-), architect and furniture designer.
• Peter Rice (1935-1992), structural engineer, responsible for the roof geometry of the Sydney Opera House and the build project for the Pompidou Centre.
• Dr Edmund Hambly (1942-1995), structural engineer, and president of the Institution of Civil Engineers 1994-1995.
• Cecil Balmond (1943-), structural engineer, founder of Arup's Advanced Geometry Unit, lead designer for the Centre Pompidou-Metz, the CCTV tower in Beijing, the Ito-Balmond Serpentine Pavilion, and the ArcelorMittal Orbit.
• Mike Glover, civil and structural engineer, and Technical Director for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
• Tony Fitzpatrick (1950-2003), structural engineer, and leader of the Millennium Bridge damping project.
• Clive Wilkinson (1954-), architect and interior designer, designer of the Googleplex after leaving Arup.
• Professor Chris Wise (1956-), structural engineer, and later Professor of Creative Design at Imperial College.
• Tim Jarvis (1966-), environmental scientist, author and explorer.
• Rogier van der Heide (1970-), lighting designer, and former leader of Arup's lighting consultancy, and later Chief Design Officer at Philips Lighting.
• Rob Leslie-Carter (1970-), civil engineer, project manager for the Laban Dance Centre and the Beijing Water Cube. UK 'Project Manager of the Year' 2003.

Related companies[link]

Arup was one of the first engineering consultancies to adopt a holistic multi-disciplined approach to engineering design. Over the years, a number of its staff have left to form other companies, often with significant parallels with Arup.

In 1976, Edmund Happold (engineer for the Pompidou Centre) and six other engineers from the group left Arup to form Buro Happold in Bath. Mark Whitby in turn left Buro Happold to form Whitby Bird.

In 1999, Chris Wise (engineer for the Millennium Bridge) and Sean Walsh left Arup to form Expedition Engineering in London.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Arup official website
• The key speech of Sir Ove Arup
• List of Arup Fellows and Arup Fellows film
• Innovation at Arup

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Rob Leslie-Carter
Born	(1970-10-24) 24 October 1970 (age 41) Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Nationality	British
Awards	UK Association for Project Management awards 'Project Manager of the Year' 2003
Work
Practice	Arup Pty Ltd
Buildings	Laban Dance Centre, London The Water Cube, Beijing
Projects	Manchester Airport Terminal 3, Middlehaven Redevelopment including the Riverside Stadium

Laban won the 2003 Stirling Prize for Architecture

The Water Cube, Beijing

Michael Phelps collects one of eight gold medals inside The Water Cube, Beijing

The new National Portrait Gallery building

Newcastle Quayside Redevelopment

Deutsche Bank Place, Sydney

Manchester Airport Terminal 3

Bronte, in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs

Robert Michael Leslie-Carter MICE, MAIPM (born 24 October 1970) is a British Engineer and Project Manager with consulting firm Arup, resident in Sydney Australia. He was named 'Project Manager of the Year' at the 2003 UK Association for Project Management awards for his role leading the new Laban Dance School in Deptford, London .^[1] In 2008 he collected the 'International Project of the Year' awards from both the Australian Institute of Project Management and the UK Association for Project Management for managing Arup's design team on the Water Cube in Beijing.^[2][3][4][5]

In 2009 the Association for Project Management named him one of the top 10 project influencers in the world. The ‘impact list’ highlights individuals who have had the biggest influence on the project management profession - recognised for shaping major programs and projects and also for inspiring and motivating others in their profession.^[6][7]

Biography[link]

Rob Leslie-Carter was born in Oxford, England on 24 October 1970. After periods living in Doha, Qatar (1972–76) and Chester (1976–82) his family returned to Oxford in 1982.

From Magdalen College School in Oxford, he went on to study Civil Engineering at the University of Bristol, graduating in 1992.

Leslie-Carter married Claire Saxby in 2000. They have four children - two daughters (Isabel and Eve) born at home in East London, and two sons (Lawrence and Arthur) born at home in Sydney. Ms Saxby is a qualified osteopath and a breastfeeding councilor with the Australian Breastfeeding Association. Together they designed and re-built their Bronte house, in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, in 2006.

Arup career[link]

Leslie-Carter has worked with Arup since graduating from Bristol University in 1992. He began his career in Arup’s Newcastle office, and spent periods in Arup’s Middlesbrough and Manchester offices before moving to Arup Project Management in London in 1996.^[8] With Arup Project Management, his first major Client role was managing the start up and technical multiplex construction for the start up of OnDigital, a direct competitor to Sky at the launch of Digital terrestrial television in 1998.

From 1998 to 2002, Leslie-Carter was Client Project Manager for the Laban Dance School in Deptford, south-east London. He was named 'Project Manager of the Year' at the 2003 UK Association for Project Management Awards, for his leadership of the project.^[9] Designed by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, Laban also won the Stirling Prize for Architecture in 2003, the UK Royal Fine Arts Commission Trust Award, and a High Commendation at the British Construction Industry Awards.^[10] In 2008, five years after it opened, Laban was named Britain's most inspiring building by the Daily Telegraph.^[11] During his 4½ years working on the Laban project, he completed an MBA at Imperial College Business School, met and married his wife Claire Saxby, and had the first two of their four children.^[12] The week after Laban’s opening ceremony, Leslie-Carter and his family moved with Arup to Sydney, Australia.

Between 2003 and 2008, Leslie-Carter managed Arup’s multi-disciplinary design team for the Beijing National Aquatics Centre (the Water Cube), for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The Water Cube hosted the swimming and diving and events at the 2008 Olympic Games. 25 world records were broken in what is now the fastest pool in world, and Michael Phelps set a new Olympic landmark with eight gold medals. In 2008 Leslie-Carter collected the 'International Project of the Year' awards from both the Australian Institute of Project Management and the UK Association for Project Management for his role on the Water Cube. Working with PTW Architects, and CSCEC International Design, the Water Cube has also won the 2004 Venice Biennale Architecture Awards, the Sir William Hudson Award at the Australian Engineering Excellence Awards, and the MacRobert Award - the UK's biggest prize for engineering innovation.^[13][14][15]

Since 2005, he has been increasingly involved in major Australian infrastructure projects, including the redevelopment of Sydney’s Town Hall Rail Station, advising the Australian Department of Defence on Public Private Partnership project transactions, and the Domestic Terminal Expansion at Brisbane Airport.

Leslie-Carter is currently Principal of Arup Sydney, an office of 350 engineers, specialists and support staff. He is a guest lecturer at the University of New South Wales, part of their Masters of Project Management course.

Sporting career[link]

Hockey career[link]

Leslie-Carter played 1st Grade club hockey from 1989 to 2000. He met his wife Claire Saxby playing hockey, and the sport formed the focus of his non-work life throughout the 1990s.

Having represented Oxfordshire County and Southern England at schoolboy level, his hockey career developed at Bristol University, where he played in the University 1st XI side that won the National University (UAU) Championships in 1991.

From 1992 to 1996, Leslie-Carter played in Newcastle for Gateshead Hockey Club (formerly Swalwell Hockey Club). After recovering from a knee reconstruction in 1993, he became increasingly influential for Swalwell and was top scorer in the 94/95 (19 goals) and 95/96 (24 goals) seasons. His goals, mainly from short corner strikes, helped Swalwell to promotion for the first time to the Northern Premier League in 95/96, and back-to-back Northumberland Cup wins. Leslie-Carter played in many UK hockey tournaments with Swallwell's touring side 'The Pallatics', winning three tournament titles at the Glaxo Hockey Festival in 1997, 1998 and 2000. In his final appearance for 'The Pallatics', he scored 11 goals in a match at the Portsmouth Islanders Tournament in 2000. He also played full county level for Northumberland in the 1994 and 1995 National County Championships.

On moving to London in 1996, he played three seasons in the 1st XI for Hampstead and Westminster Hockey Club.^[16] Throughout his time at H&W, he played in a central sweeper role. In his first 1996/97 season, under player coach and Great Britain international Rob Thompson, H&W won the Southern Premier League undefeated, and were promoted to the English National League after winning the playoff tournament at the National Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes. In the 1997/98 season, H&W finished fifth in National League Division 1 - its best place to date - with Leslie-Carter at the centre of a defence with the best record in the league. During his time with Hampstead and Westminster, Leslie-Carter played in international hockey tournaments in Holland, Germany and around the UK.

Other Sports[link]

Leslie-Carter ran the Great North Run in 1994 and 1995, the London Marathon in 1996, the Sydney Half Marathon in 2006 and 2009, and has run Sydney’s City to Surf run every year since 2003.

In 2005 he gained his Bronze Medallion to become a qualified Surf Lifesaver at Bronte Beach Surf Club in Sydney.

Selected Projects[link]

Rob Leslie-Carter's major projects include:

Completed[link]

• Laban School of Dance & Visual Arts, London^{[17][18][19][20][21]}
• Beijing National Aquatics Centre (The Water Cube)
• Greenhouse by Joost, Sydney^[22]
• National Portrait Gallery Australia, Canberra
• Middlehaven Redevelopment including the new Riverside Stadium for Middlesbrough F.C.
• Newcastle Quayside Redevelopment
• Manchester Airport Terminal 3
• Deutsche Bank Global Program including Deutsche Bank Place, Sydney and One Raffles Quay, Singapore
• Milad Telecommunications Tower, Tehran, Iran
• OnDigital Start Up, London
• Warburg Dillon Read Consolidation Project, London^[23]
• Headquarters Joint Operations Command Project, Canberra
• Long Bay Forensic Hospital, Sydney
• Western Front Interpretive Centre, Northern France

Proposed or under construction[link]

• New Acton Nishi Development
• Randwick Racecourse Redevelopment, NSW
• Barangaroo Urban Precinct, Sydney NSW
• Nation Building Economic Stimulus Program, NSW
• Town Hall Rail Station Redevelopment, Sydney NSW
• Brisbane Airport Domestic Terminal Expansion, QLD

References[link]

A panorama of the Sydney skyline. Left to right, the seven tallest visible structures are Sydney Tower, MLC Centre (background), Deutsche Bank Place, Chifley Tower, Aurora Place, Governor Phillip Tower and the AMP Centre.

External links[link]

• Arup
• Arup in Beijing
• Association for Project Management
• Gateshead Hockey Club
• Hampstead & Westminster Hockey Club
• Bronte Surf Life Saving Club

National Aquatics Center
Water Cube
200px
The National Aquatics Center, with the Beijing National Stadium in the background
Building information
Full name:	National Aquatics Center
City:	Beijing, China
Capacity:	17,000
Built:	2004–2007
Opened:	2008
Construction cost:	￥10.2billion
Architect(s):	PTW Architects, CSCEC, CCDI, and Arup
Pools
Name Length Width Depth Lanes Main pool 50m 25m 3m 10

Water Cube The National Aquatics Center in Chaoyang

The Beijing National Aquatics Center (simplified Chinese: 北京国家游泳中心; traditional Chinese: 北京國家游泳中心), also officially known as the National Aquatics Center,^[1] and colloquially known as the Water Cube (Chinese: 水立方), is an aquatics center that was built alongside Beijing National Stadium in the Olympic Green for the swimming competitions of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Despite its nickname, the building is not an actual cube, but a cuboid (a rectangular box). Ground was broken on December 24, 2003, and the Center was completed and handed over for use on January 28, 2008.^[2] Swimmers at the Water Cube broke 25 world records during the 2008 Olympics.^[3]

After the Olympics, the building underwent a 200 million Yuan revamp to turn half of its interior into a water park.^[4] The building officially re-opened on August 8, 2010.^[5]

Architecture[link]

The National Aquatics Center at night

In July 2003, the Water Cube design was chosen from 10 proposals in an international architectural competition for the aquatic center project.^[6] The Water Cube was specially designed and built by a consortium made up of PTW Architects (an Australian architecture firm),^[7] Arup international engineering group, CSCEC (China State Construction Engineering Corporation), and CCDI (China Construction Design International) of Shanghai.^[8] The Water Cube's design was initiated by a team effort: the Chinese partners felt a square was more symbolic to Chinese culture and its relationship to the Bird's Nest stadium, while the Sydney based partners came up with the idea of covering the 'cube' with bubbles, symbolising water. Contextually the cube symbolises earth whilst the circle (represented by the stadium) represents heaven. Hence symbolically the water cube references Chinese symbolic architecture.

Comprising a steel space frame, it is the largest ETFE clad structure in the world with over 100,000 m² of ETFE pillows that are only 0.2 mm (1/125 of an inch) in total thickness.^[9] The ETFE cladding allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs.^[9]

The outer wall is based on the Weaire–Phelan structure, a structure devised from the natural formation of bubbles in soap lather.^[10] The complex Weaire–Phelan pattern was developed by slicing through bubbles in soap foam, resulting in more irregular, organic patterns than foam bubble structures proposed earlier by the scientist Kelvin.^[8] Using the Weaire–Phelan geometry, the Water Cube's exterior cladding is made of 4,000 ETFE bubbles, some as large as 9.14 metres (30.0 ft) across, with seven different sizes for the roof and 15 for the walls.^[11]

The structure had a capacity of 17,000^[9] during the games that is being reduced to 7,000. It also has a total land surface of 65,000 square meters and will cover a total of 32,000 square metres (7.9 acres).^[9] Although called the Water Cube, the aquatic center is really a rectangular box (cuboid)- 178 metres (584 ft) square and 31 metres (102 ft) high.^[11]

It cost £75 million (10.2 billion yuan). The facade of the water cube became so popular that there is now a one-to-one copy near the ferry terminal in Macau – the Casino Oceanus by Paul Steelman.^[12]

Olympics[link]

Inside the Water Cube on August 14, 2008

The Aquatics Center hosted the swimming, diving and Synchronized Swimming events during the Olympics. Water polo was originally planned to be hosted in the venue but was moved to the Ying Tung Natatorium.

Many people believe the Water Cube to be the fastest Olympic pool^[13] in the world. It is 1.314 meters deeper than most Olympic pools. Up to a certain limit, beyond which swimmers will lose their sense of vision, deeper pools allow the waves to dissipate down to the bottom, leading to less water disturbance to the swimmers. The pool also has perforated gutters on both sides to absorb the waves.

With the popularity of the newly introduced faster Speedo LZR Racer swim suit, the Aquatics Center saw 25 world records broken in the Beijing Olympics.^[3]

Post-Olympics[link]

After the Olympics, the Water Cube was opened to the public on select days of the week beginning in June 2009, and was also used as the site for a production of Swan Lake amongst other shows. The building's popularity has spawned many copycat structures throughout China.^[14] On October 19, 2009, the Water Cube was closed to the public to begin a massive renovation of a portion of the complex into a water park.^[15] The building re-opened on August 8, 2010, marking the two year anniversary of the beginning of the 2008 Summer Olympics. The redesigned facility contains numerous water rides and slides, a wave pool, and spa areas. The renovations were performed in order to bring renewed interest to the Olympic Green area as part of the games' legacy.^[5]

Awards[link]

The Beijing National Aquatics Center while under construction

Video: The Beijing National Aquatics Center re-opened on July 28, 2010.

• 2004 – Venice Biennale – Award for most accomplished work Atmosphere section^[16]
• 2006 – Popular Science Best of what's new 2006 in engineering^[9]
• 2008 – NSW 'Project of the Year' award from the Australian Institute of Project Management^[17]
• 2009 – 40th annual MacRobert Award, the UK's biggest prize for engineering innovation
• 2010 – International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering 2010 Outstanding Structure Award

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• Frei Otto
• Chris Bosse
• Rob Leslie-Carter
• Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Beijing National Aquatics Centre

• Water Cube at Beijing.cn
• Beijing2008.cn profile
• Official website
• Beijing Water Cube video
• National Geographic Channel
• Arup in Beijing
• ptw architects
• Arup
• chris bosse
• laboratory for visionary architecture
• National Aquatics Center (Water Cube)
• Science News article describing the design of the building and the mathematics behind it
• cscec
• iconography
• Vector Foiltec homepage
• Beijing 2008 @ OOne
• News and Project Information on the Watercube, Beijing
• Conceptualising, planning and engineering the Water Cube
• Gallery, architecture images
• Consulting services performed by RWDI

v t e Olympic venues in diving 1904: Forest Park 1908: White City Stadium 1912: Djurgårdsbrunnsviken 1920: Stade Nautique d'Antwerp 1924: Piscine des Tourelles 1928: Olympic Sports Park Swim Stadium 1932: Swimming Stadium 1936: Olympic Swimming Stadium 1948: Empire Pool 1952: Swimming Stadium 1956: Swimming/Diving Stadium 1960: Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto 1964: National Gymnasium 1968: Francisco Márquez Olympic Pool 1972: Schwimmhalle 1976: Olympic Pool 1980: Swimming Pool - Olimpisky 1984: Olympic Swim Stadium 1988: Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool 1992: Piscina Municipal de Montjuïc 1996: Georgia Tech Aquatic Center 2000: Sydney International Aquatic Centre 2004: Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre 2008: Beijing National Aquatic Center 2012: Aquatics Centre 2016: Maria Lenk Aquatic Center

v t e Olympic venues in swimming 1896: Bay of Zea 1900: Seine 1904: Forest Park 1908: White City Stadium 1912: Djurgårdsbrunnsviken 1920: Stade Nautique d'Antwerp 1924: Piscine des Tourelles 1928: Olympic Sports Park Swim Stadium 1932: Swimming Stadium 1936: Olympic Swimming Stadium 1948: Empire Pool 1952: Swimming Stadium 1956: Swimming/Diving Stadium 1960: Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto 1964: National Gymnasium 1968: Francisco Márquez Olympic Pool 1972: Schwimmhalle 1976: Olympic Pool 1980: Swimming Pool - Olimpisky 1984: Olympic Swim Stadium 1988: Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool 1992: Piscines Bernat Picornell 1996: Georgia Tech Aquatic Center 2000: Sydney International Aquatic Centre 2004: Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre 2008: Beijing National Aquatic Center, Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park 2012: Aquatics Centre, Hyde Park 2016: Fort Copacabana, Olympic Aquatics Stadium

v t e Olympic venues in synchronized swimming 1984: Olympic Swim Stadium 1988: Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool 1992: Piscines Bernat Picornell 1996: Georgia Tech Aquatic Center 2000: Sydney International Aquatic Centre 2004: Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre 2008: Beijing National Aquatic Center 2012: Aquatics Centre 2016: Olympic Aquatics Stadium

Coordinates: 39°59′30″N 116°23′03″E / 39.99167°N 116.38417°E / 39.99167; 116.38417