Water Cube architecture and design

Water Cube

In an attempt to fuse building construction with artistic intentions allows for a unique expression of human ingenuity and wonder. The purpose of this essay is to describe the total design concept as it was used in the case study 'Arup: Building the Water Cube." This essay will describe this effort, how it was implemented and how its design process contributed to the project's success. The essay will also discuss the lessons learned from the analysis in this case study to help generalize problems and solutions for future construction projects.

The Total Design Concept

The Olympic Games are opportunities for the world to demonstrate its athletic, social and artistic prowess. In 2008, the games were hosted by China in Beijing and many buildings were needed to be constructed in order to successfully host a worthwhile Olympic event. One such idea was to design an aquatic center to host the swimming and water sports events. The Water Cube, perhaps the most outstanding project of this games demonstrated how when successful project management practices are utilized a great deal of knowledge may be acquired to be applied to future project of the kind.

The Water Cube was the result of an international design competition that submitted ideas to be used in the games. Arup, an Australian total design firm won the competition and was awarded the opportunity to design and implement the sophisticated problem. Arup used total design management skills to propel the effort and by emphasizing communication strategies, team leadership and risk management, one of the most remarkable and memorable project of its kind was created.

The use of total design concept was integral in the realized success of Arup. According to the case study " the Water Cube design was the integration of many ideas from many people. These ideas did not arrive fully formed but developed through interaction between professionals with different skills, different perspectives, and different cultural backgrounds." The success of this project was mostly due to the ability to arrange a strong team, where each member of the team had specific duties and roles that contributed to the larger design strategy. The execution of this example demonstrated how total design efforts may be successfully synchronized and aligned.

The object of the Water Cube was to create the best Olympic swimming venue using modern qualities of aesthetics. Other requirements included making the venue environmentally compatible, $100 million dollar budget and have a venue where fast swimming an memorable Olympic moments can be shared across the globe. The members of the Arup team were indeed successful at their task and were lauded for the efforts for years to come from the architectural and sporting world.

Implementation

Implementing the plans for the Water Cube was an international effort of the highest order. Many countries were involved with different aspects of the project and the managing processes proved their worth. The project management team avoided many pitfalls that were obvious in such an undertaking such as the cultural and regulatory standards that were not obvious to the designers. Also, the implementation process saw that many small details were addressed such as fine requirements of the pool design, temperature requirements, chemical and air balances and many other not so blatant challenges.

Lessons Learned