As months count down until 2008, Beijing is revealing more of its plans the summer games. This month the National Swimming Centre Conceptual Designs were short-listed - the designs echo the sensational Herzog & De Meuron Stadium.
Construction is set to start in December and will be finished by the end of 2006. Total investment is estimated at 830 million yuan (US$100 million). More info on the Beijing Olympics website. This pool will sit next to the Herzog & De Meuron Stadium which the Telegraph describes as: "The hub of the 2008 games will move stadium design from pragmatism into the realm of poetry. Without a sense of scale, it is at first hard to know what you are looking at. Could it be a schematic vision of some post-Bladerunner city, or a bizarre geological formation, a volcanic extrusion found in a remote desert? Is it the Quangle Wangle's hat? An oval form with a gaping central hole seems to be bulging out of the ground, rising slightly at two ends, held down only by a mass of curving, twisting lines that appear like a myriad ropes."
Large versions of the design can be found here. Looking forward to the Vancouver 2010 designs
