Award-winning German-born architect Chris Bosse, co-founder of LAVA (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture), has designed numerous structures that push the boundaries of architecture. Designing buildings that are intelligent and responsive to external influences like air, temperature, water and solar radiation, his designs never cease to stun. One of his more iconic and awe-inspiring works include the Beijing National Aquatics Centre, also known as the Watercube.
Whilst with PTW, an Australian Architecture firm, he was a key designer for the Watercube. Designed for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, the Watercube associates water as a structural and thematic “leitmotiv”. The ingenious structure of the Watercube is based on a unique lightweight construction 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 novel 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 Centre’s architectural space, structure and facade are one and the same element.
View more Chris Bosse’s artwork here: http://www.l-a-v-a.net/
