PTW - Water Cube

The Beijing National Aquatics Centre, also known as the Water Cube, opened in February, hosting the Good Luck Beijing 2008 Swimming China Open. The Centre is part of the 2008 Olympic Village and will host the swimming, diving and synchronized swimming events in the 2008 Olympics.

Designed by the Australian architecture firm PTW, the building boasts of a series of green technologies, including a facade made up of 3,000 air cushions that cause the building to function similarly to a greenhouse. This allows high levels of daylight into the building, and the solar energy is used to heat the pools and the interior, with backwash water being filtered and reused in the swimming pools.

It's kind of pretty, don't you think?

All photos by Chris Bosse, via Dezeen.