If you thought the new Arizona Cardinals football stadium was unique looking, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Beijing's new swimming venue for the Olympics looks like an alien landed and cocooned itself right there in China. It also looks like it could be The Thing's new hideout.
Known officially as the National Aquatics Center, the Watercube has been dubbed the "cool" building of the Games and, along with the National Stadium, has been called a work of art.
That's one way to describe it, I guess. BTW, the army really completes the photo.
The building's translucent, blue-toned outside skin - made of a Teflon-like material called ETFE - gives the impression of a cube draped in bubble wrap. In between the cube's two outside layers is a passage that allows the building to breathe like a greenhouse.
The original cost estimate for the building was about $100 million. But the actual cost has been shrouded in secrecy, with figures ranging from $150 million to more than $200 million. Much of the building was financed by $110 million in private contributions from people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Isn't it amazing the amount of money that can be raised for sports while things of real importance can't get jack shit for funding? China really is becoming more and more like the U.S. And just think, only six people have died building all this shit for the Games. That is real progress there, folks.
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