This is one of the coolest buildings I have seen in a long while. It is called the Watercube, and will be the national swimming centre for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The building’s skin, made from an innovative and lightweight transparent ‘teflon’, abbreviated as etfe, has been designed to react specifically to lighting and projection – and particularly the advanced systems which will become available in the coming four years – to create a stunning visual and sensory experience that will also be shared by millions of television viewers around the world. This state-of-the-art material provides a cost effective cladding solution for modern architecture, enabling a wide range of applications where traditional materials, such as glass, may not be possible.

It is essentially a very efficient green house:

“90% of the solar energy falling on the building is trapped within the structural zone and is used to heat the pools and the interior area”

via Danda