(BEIJING, January 28) -- Located on Beijing's central axis and east of Beichenxi Bridge at the North Fourth Ring Rd., the National Aquatics Center, dubbed "Water Cube," maintains spring-like warm temperatures with a comfortable level of humidity amid the city's chilly outdoor circumstances.
And even in the city's humid August, the venue will be fully dew prevented.
As a completely enclosed swimming gymnasium, a potential problem with high humidity was taken into consideration in the design.
A unique approach was taken in the air-conditioning system.
With sustainable development as its design principle, a strict temperature and humidity control system was built with recycled hot water to supply an air-conditioning system in the living area and the swimming pool.
In addition, other cooling methods, such as outdoor and indoor air recycling systems, solar energy and double-deck ventilation devices, successfully maintain comfortable temperatures and stable humidity of between 50 and 60 percent in the venue.
Another potential problem that might affect swimmers in the pool or divers on the springboard is dew dropping from the rooftop.
To solve this problem, the designers started with the thermal requirement of the building shell, retaining a far smaller heat transfer coefficient for the building shell than for the quality glass walls. Meanwhile, they engineered the airflow in this spacious building with air-conditioning systems and swimming and leisure pools, and they devised a way to optimize the ventilation frequency at the upper spaces of the building using the building's air supply, return inlets, and exhaust outlets. In addition, a heating air supply system was installed at the ramp that clings to the lower end of the roof, while an air ventilation system was installed at the fa莽ade of the building shell.
