bubble building

this had got to be one of the coolest looking buildings ever. it is china's national swim center, being built for the beijing olympics in 2008. it is made of some sort of lightweight and transparent teflon material, so it will diffuse light into the facility and act as sort of a large greenhouse, as well. there are some other really cool pictures of it here and also if you visit the design firm's site here and poke around a bit (welcome, projects, international). apparently it only appears to be a random pattern of bubbles, but is actually mathematically based on organic cell arrangements and the natural structural formation of soap bubbles - how very nerdy cool! found on inhabitat, where they also observe one of the things i love most about the building: the connection between the form of the exterior and the use/function the building will serve.