Analyzing and reverse-engineering the key element of a selected building.

The Water Cube, Beijing.

With point of departure in the Weaire-Phelan structure, the design team came up with a desired expression through numerous alteration.

By rotating the cube of packed polygons with approx. 60 degrees on a diagonal axis, a more random section occurred.

This type of constructed geometry was more similar to the visual expression of foam and bubbles.

The square of sliced bubbles was carved out expressing the interior spaces.

The facade and the structure is what is left of the packed polygons.

The engineers made considerable alterations to the Weaire-Phelan structure, mutating the original system into an end-product composed of over 100 distinct members.

In spite of the seeming randomness of the design, the theory of bubbles always touch each other with a regular geometry (hexagons, pentagons) is what makes the design feasible.