Beijing National Aquatics Center

An Olympic venue that kept changing roles

The Beijing National Aquatics Center is known around the world as the Water Cube, a name inspired by its translucent, bubble-like exterior. Built on the Olympic Green for the 2008 Summer Games, it was designed as a competition arena and as a public sports and leisure facility that could remain useful after the closing ceremony. Its story did not stop with swimming. For the 2022 Winter Olympics, the venue was adapted to host curling and gained the companion identity “Ice Cube.” Today it functions as a dual-season sports complex, event venue and visitor attraction, showing how a purpose-built Olympic building can acquire a second life.

The design emerged from an international competition won in 2003 by a team including PTW Architects, Arup, China State Construction Engineering Corporation and CCDI. The project brought together two ideas: a square form associated by the Chinese partners with cultural symbolism, and a skin that evokes clusters of soap bubbles. The structure uses a steel space frame with ETFE cushions—lightweight transparent panels that admit daylight and create the building’s distinctive cellular appearance. The architects describe the design as combining natural light, solar heat capture and water-saving measures such as rainwater collection and reuse. The “Water Cube” is therefore not merely a nickname for an unusual facade; its outer layer reflects the building’s engineering and environmental ambitions.

From the 2008 Games to “Ice Cube”

During the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the center staged major aquatic competitions and became one of the Games’ most recognizable venues. The building’s visibility helped make Olympic Green a landscape of national-scale sports architecture, alongside other landmark facilities. After the Games, the operator expanded its public uses rather than leaving the center as an occasional competition hall. Swimming, fitness, events, exhibitions and visitor access became part of its post-Olympic program. That transition matters for travelers: the facility can be open to visitors even when no international competition is taking place, but the public route and accessible areas may change when events are scheduled.

The Winter Olympics required a more technical transformation. The venue was reconfigured so that its water-sports identity could coexist with ice sports; the operator calls the resulting site a “dual Olympic” venue. In 2022 it hosted curling competitions under the Ice Cube name. A separate ice-sports center beneath the south plaza supports skating and curling operations, while the main aquatic spaces continue to serve water-based activity. The point is not that the building permanently became an ice arena, but that its infrastructure and operating plan can switch between uses. This adaptability is the most compelling chapter of its Olympic legacy.

The venue’s own retrospective reports that, by the end of 2025, it had welcomed more than 33 million visits, provided swimming and ice-fitness services to over 3.5 million people and staged nearly 3,300 events, including 20 international sports competitions. These are figures supplied by the operator, not independent visitor counts, but they show the scale of its post-Games activity. The Water Cube remains an active sports complex, so a tourist visit takes place within a working venue rather than a preserved, empty stadium.

Planning a public visit

As of the venue’s notice dated 2 September 2026, sightseeing hours are 10:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; onsite ticket sales stop at 7:50 p.m., entry ends at 8:00 p.m. and clearing the building begins at 8:30 p.m. The same notice lists the “Water Light” show at several times from 11:00 a.m. through 8:00 p.m. These times describe the current seasonal schedule, not a permanent guarantee. The center may adjust visitor access or suspend attractions when competitions and other events require it, so check the official announcement page on the day of your visit.

The official visitor guide, published in September 2025 and explicitly subject to day-of changes, lists a standard sightseeing ticket at ¥30 and a discounted ticket at ¥15. A sightseeing ticket combined with the Water Light show is listed at ¥48 full price and ¥33 discounted; the guide warns that the show may be suspended for venue events and that final prices follow onsite notices. Treat these as published reference prices, not a promise that the same product will be available when you arrive. The venue’s guide also lists free admission for several eligible groups, including children six and under or up to 1.2 metres tall when accompanied by an adult, but visitors must present original qualifying identification.

How to experience the Water Cube

Allow time to look at the building from outside as well as inside. The changing light on the ETFE surface is part of the design, and the Olympic Green setting makes the center easiest to understand as one element in a larger collection of venues. Inside, the public route can include the competition hall and designated exhibitions, but the exact spaces depend on that day’s operations. A visitor interested in architecture may focus on the translucent envelope and steel structure; a sports fan may prefer to connect the pool’s 2008 history with the Ice Cube’s curling legacy. Check which areas are actually open instead of assuming every pool or training space is included in the sightseeing ticket.

For a smooth visit, arrive before the onsite ticket cutoff, keep the admission and clearing times in mind, and verify the show schedule and ticket type through the venue’s Chinese-language official site. A visit can be paired with other Olympic Green landmarks, but do not underestimate the time needed to move between large venues. The Water Cube’s enduring appeal lies in this combination: a memorable building, a real record of Olympic competition and a practical example of reuse. It is still being used, adapted and reinterpreted—a living piece of Beijing’s sports architecture rather than a monument to a single summer.