Digital Cathedrals - Man, Technology and Nature: Synergy in the Urban Environment

A building wrapped in bubble membranes. Chris Bosse will present a case study into the Watercube swimming centre designed for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

How do geometries in nature create both efficiency and beauty? What can architecture learn from nature in the areas of structure, material and building skin? How are efficient, intelligent and beautiful membranes for interiors and exteriors a solution for the future?

Bosse was a key design team member whilst Associate Architect at PTW and conceived the bubble concept.

The Watercube associates water as a structural and thematic “leitmotiv”, with the square, the primal shape of the house in Chinese tradition and mythology.

The entire structure of the Watercube is based on a unique lightweight construction, developed by PTW and CSCEC with ARUP, and derived from the structure of water in the state of aggregation of foam. Behind the totally randomised appearance hides a strict geometry that can be found in natural systems like crystals, cells and molecular structures.

By applying this material and technology the transparency and apparent randomness is transposed into the inner and outer skins of ETFE cushions.

Unlike traditional stadium structures with their gigantic columns and beams, cables and back spans, to which a facade system is applied, the architectural space, structure and facade are one and the same element.

Bosse was awarded the 2006 RIBA Emerging Architects Prize and the Venice Architecture Biennale Atmosphere Award for the centre in 2004.

This lecture is part of the series Beyond the Envelope organized in the context of the course ARCH 791 Beyond the Envelope: Pioneering Technology in Architecture, taught by Professor Tom Verebes.

Design Dialogues

In times of global crises, education, collaboration, and dialogs can represent positive “game changing” factors.

Through dialogue with international universities, industries, and practicing designers, the NYIT School of Architecture and Design Lecture Series will nurture dialogue on the education of the creatives of the future and will challenge the more conventional university curricula, and the narratives and communication strategies of the current professional practice.

Introduction and Moderation

Tom Verebes

Professor, NYIT School of Architecture and Design

FULL BIO »

Register