Biuro projektowe: Forrec Ltd.
Powierzchnia: 13000 m2 
Rok oddania do użytku: 2010
Fot: Grischa Rueschendorf, www.rupho.com

Winner of World Waterpark Association’s  “2010 Industry Innovation Award for Waterparks”
In 2003, Olympic organizers selected a consortium1 to design and build the iconic swimming venue for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Included in the design was an exhibition hall intended for ultimate use as a water park. Six years later, the Canadian design firm Forrec accepted the exciting challenge to complete and extendthe original architectural idea into the Happy Magic Watercube.

The prime design objective for this indoor water park was to create a unique environment — a dramatic indoor water-space that would capture the spirit of the building and honour its design intent. The Water Cube offered an ideal opportunity to develop ambience by using fanciful narrative elements that would provide a contrast with the structure's rigid geometry and reflect the unique "bubbly" cellular structure that forms the building's exterior. This translucent skin is strongly suggestive of a watery surface and daylight passing through it is reminiscent of sunlight filtering through water. 

So Forrec proposed the creation of an "underwater" world, using abstracted aquatic elements — large colorful shapes and forms that "float" within the space, creating a dramatic, dynamic atmosphere. Simple elements are incorporated within and around the existing building forms. Column coverings suggest a coral reef, clear plastic spheres appear as floating air bubbles and translucent stretched fabric panels are molded into jellyfish, seaweed, and soft coral. The elements are unusual and sophisticated enough to complement the architecture, but playful enough to create an exciting water park environment.

The Happy Magic Watercube was conceived as having two separate personalities. During the day, sunlight shining through the building's skin and illuminating the thematic elements creates the sensation of a sunlit tropical lagoon. At night, theatrical lighting is used to create a luminous underwater fantasy realm that many visitors have compared to being inside a 3D movie or a computer game. To enhance the effect, an enormous LCD screen above the wave pool displays a constantly changing marine-scape of watery imagery.

Traditional indoor water parks maximize space by extending portions of the water slides outside the main hall. But the Water Cube's thick and complex structural shell made this impossible. The design challenge was to confine all of the slides within the building envelope, without making them feel cramped or crowded. The solution was to carefully consider all three dimensions of the space — not just the plan — and to combine the attractions and thematic elements into one enormous, interwoven composition. Mezzanine levels were introduced to simplify access to some of the slides while improving the park's capacity by increasing floor area. Taking advantage of the height of the volume meant that both the attractions and thematic elements could be used to create a continuous spatial environment. The upper levels had the additional advantage of giving the guests new and exciting ways to experience and interact with the fantastic underwater world. 

To capitalize on the international interest in the building and to ensure that the Happy Magic Watercube would debut two years after the opening of the Olympic games, the schedule was kept extremely tight. The team designed the park and guided its construction all within 14 months. In view of the high aspirations and an extremely tight schedule, the client was always available for consultation and approvals, but gave Forrec the freedom to set interim deadlines and coordinate the design process. 

Even before the opening of Happy Magic Watercube, there was a buzz in the water park industry — something new and exciting was about to happen. The buzz has now increased and the park has become our client's flagship project, firmly establishing and defining the brand. The Happy Magic Watercube concept, a high-quality themed water park, has expanded to water parks in Beijing and Nanjing and, with the help of Forrec there are plans to further expand the brand throughout China.

Źródło: Forrec