PTW won the international design competition to create the National Swimming Centre for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in late 2003.

The design, known as the “Watercube”, plays on the geometry of water bubbles, fantastically crystallised as a massive rectangular form. The structure’s elemental shape is specifically designed to work in harmony with the circular main stadium, designed by Herzog and de Meuron, both of which will rise on the Beijing Olympic Green in a spectacular duality of forms. The facility will be used prior and post games as a multi-purpose leisure and elite swimming centre.