In 1887, Kelvin, a British man, advanced "Tian Wen" when looking up to the sky, which had then inspired people's unceasing pursue of the perfect space: "How to divide a three-dimensional space into several small parts of the minimum contact area, and in what shape those several parts are." In 1993, Irish professors Weaire and Phelan theorized the "Foam Conjecture." On February 19, 2008, the concept was successfully applied to architecture for the first time when the "Foam Conjecture" – or Water Cube – was officially initiated.

For centuries, thousands of designers have strived to thoroughly understand the foam theory, and today, we are fortunate to witness the final yet optimal results. Shenyang Yuanda Group -- the erector and executor of the world complicated membrane structure project "Water Cube" – will help you understand how the "Foam Conjecture" was turned into the reality.

When plans for the Water Cube were first announced, nearly all architects studying the foam theory from throughout the world swarmed to the construction spot for instructions. At that time, Yu Lansong, project manager of the Water Cube for Shenyang Yuanda Group, said the Water Cube would be built with more than 3,800 air pillows, perfectly embodying Kelvin's "Tian Wen."

"The installation of the membrane structure has no record-breaking progress in the European countries." Germany's membrane structure Allianz Arena of FC Bayern Munchen is built as a unified figure with a parallelogram overhead, while the roof of the Tropical Garden of Eden in England is built in a simple membrane structure.

As the birthplace of the membrane structure, Europe has a 27-year history of membrane structure. In Europe, more than 600 buildings apply such a structure, while it's the first time for China to take on the challenge of constructing a building with the most complicated architecture technique in the world.

How to perfectly connect such a "small space" of 3,800 air pillows has become a hard nut to crack in the execution of the Water Cube. For the external wall of the Water Cube, 3,800 ETFE air pillows were applied, covering up to 100,000 square meters of surface area, which will be the world's largest and the only public large-scale architecture fully constructed with membrane structure.

Shen Bing, the quality inspector for the Water Cube project from Shenyang Yuanda Group said, "I've been in this industry for more than 10 years, and it's my first time taking on the challenge of such a new construction mode, which totally differs from the traditional way. In the course of construction, every progression is not made easily. Based on such advanced technology as GPS positioning and laser positioning, we have invented nearly 10 types of space fixing instruments, such as gradienter and theodolite, through our own innovation. Currently, we are applying for a construction patent."

The Yuanda group brought to life Kelvin's ideal dream with its diligent hands, and Yuanda's installation technology has reached a new height of millimeter-level accuracy. Each of the 3,800 air pillows installed is different in shape and size, while the same case for the tens of thousands of metal bar pieces is installed. The first membrane structure construction group from Shenyang, China has conquered the difficulties imposed by the world's largest and most complicated membrane structure. It has reached the peak of membrane structure construction.

Actually, the Water Cube is a dream of its designers: during the day time, as the radiant and enchanting sunlight is captured by the blue bubbles, some may imagine laying on a sandy beach and listening to the exciting cry of surfers; at night, especially when the lights are switched on, there's a whole new world of crystal blue palace.

In dreamy Hawaii, ETFE membrane has many functions, including heat and sound insulation and calefaction, and is capable of accommodating a maximum of 15,000 visitors. While building the Water Cube, several tough issues that have never occurred in constructing membrane structure are faced by Yuanda people, for example, creating better sound insulation during thunderstorms, and handling the pressure of snow on the membrane.

"In order to thoroughly understand the effect of the white membrane, Shenyang Yuanda has invested 1,080,000 Yuan." Furthermore, it has made samples for spot visual testing, water drenching and exhibition, and even erected a trial installation sample of 500 square meters. To effectively reduce and even eliminate the noise that such membrane structure may produce on rainy days, Yuanda has especially established an acoustics lab in the Information School of Tsinghua University for the purpose of testing and measuring, and through their efforts, a suitable and preferred solution to solve that matter has been found. The acoustics lab mentioned above is the first of such type in China. The data and information to be obtained in the testing has been taken as the theoretical basis for solving the technical difficulty of a similar nature that may occur in the domestic architecture industry.

The Standards of the Membrane Structure Technology of the State Swimming Center and its Construction Quality Acceptance, which were formulated with the Yuanda Group's participation, have kept up with the requirements and standards of the experts from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Construction. In February, the Guardian (a British newspaper) described the Water Cube as the masterpiece of Theoretical Physics. As the first of its type that implements the membrane structure, the Standards that were worked out with Shenyang people's participation has filled the 27-year history gap in the membrane structure.