The Water Cube transformed into the Winter Olympics for the second time to start "water-to-ice conversion"
News from our newspaper (reporter Chu Peng) On November 27, according to the Beijing Major Project Office, the renovation project of the National Aquatics Center "Water Cube" was completed, becoming the first venue to be renovated for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
The National Aquatics Center "Water Cube" undertook swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and other water competitions during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. During the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, it will undertake curling and wheelchair curling competitions.
The venue completed the conversion of a swimming pool and an ice rink for the first time in 2019, becoming the world's first venue to complete the "water-to-ice conversion", achieving a magnificent turn from the "Water Cube" to the "Ice Cube".
In December of that year, the "Water Cube" successfully hosted the China Youth Curling Open and completed the track certification, becoming the first Winter Olympic venue to open a high-profile ice event and enter the actual test phase.
According to Huang Hui, director of the Urban Stadium Construction Division of the Beijing Major Project Office, the "Water Cube" renovation involves construction, structure, waterproofing, membrane maintenance and other engineering fields, with about 70 independent construction areas and a renovation area of 50,000 square meters.
The biggest difficulty in the transformation is to maintain the water function of the "Water Cube" on the basis of the new function of "water-to-ice conversion". A curling venue with a standard track.
This conversion mode not only realizes the interchange of "Water Cube" and "Ice Cube", but also realizes the reuse of conversion materials, which greatly reduces the cost of later dismantling and reconstruction.
According to the original test competition plan, a new round of site conversion structure construction has begun in the competition hall, and the new ice surface will be completed before the end of the year, which will provide the public with a place for ice experience activities.
According to Yang Qiyong, general manager of the National Aquatics Center, the "Water Cube" has already launched the second "water-to-ice conversion" and will be open to the public again after the ice is completed.
Yang Qiyong introduced that after the "Water Cube" is transformed into the "Ice Cube", the competition hall will have the conditions for hosting ice events, water events and large-scale commercial events.
After the game, the venues will constantly switch between the swimming season and the ice season. The three seasons of spring, summer and autumn will become "Water Cube" for water sports; in winter, they will be transformed into "Ice Cube" for ice sports. , To become a model of sustainable use of Olympic venues.
In order to do a good job in the later operation of the stadium, the National Aquatics Center also used the underground space of the South Square to build two ice surfaces, one for the standard ice rink and the other for the curling venue.