Olympic National Aquatics Center

While preparing for the Olympics, the Chinese designers had plenty of room for their ideas and continuous innovations, such as freedom to choose the building material.

The exterior of the Beijing Olympic National Aquatics Center is made from ETFE membrane that can either preserve heat or avert heat. The most famous structure composed of this membrane is in the Munich Allianz Arena. Established for the 2006 FIFA world cup, the Munich arena contains more than two thousand rhombic inflated cushions. The Beijing 's National Aquatics Center contains a total of more than three thousand inflated cushions. With the aquatics Center giving off a bluish effect, people recognize it as the "water cube"

The round spots on the outer layer function the same as a leaf would. It can reflect direct sunshine. The spots' location is also science based. The density of the spots on top is larger than that on the western and the eastern walls where there is weaker sunlight. The spots are also sparser on the inflated cushions near the ground because in this area, the sunlight is much softer.