Bolidt Synthetic Products & Systems of Hendrik Ido Ambacht has designed and fitted a very special floor to the VIP bar in the Olympic swimming pool in Beijing. The colour and image of the floor on which during the Games there will be many celebrations matches seamlessly to the unique architecture of the “Water Cube” designed by the Australian architects PTW Architects.

The Bolidtop® Bubblebar floor was designed in collaboration with the Chinese architect Jiwei Li. He experimented in the design laboratory of Bolidt, Bolidroom, with plastic, colours, forms and textures. Li examined no less than 10 different designs all of which were experienced differently. Representatives of the Chinese Olympic Committee made the final choice in the end. An important criterion in this was that the floor had to match the architecture of the swimming pool building well.

The adjacent “Water Cube” and “Birds Nest” express the Chinese idea that the heavens are round and the earth is square. The architectural concept of the building, which will be one of the major attractions during the coming Olympic Games, combines this symbolism with the natural structure and form of soap bubbles. Only state-of-the-art technology and materials have been used in the achievement of this special architectural form. The result is a visually impressive building which is extremely energy efficient and in which use has been made of environmentally-friendly materials.

The Bolidtop® Bubblebar floor, which was fitted by our own people from Bolidt, was developed from the Artwalk® partnership with Bayer Material Science. Margriet Lommers of Bolidt Synthetic Materials Applications said: “In the Bayer Artwalk® concept a small number of plastic manufacturers are involved. Bolidt was part initiator of this concept which has gained a worldwide reputation. The concept was implemented by Bolidt with its Bolidtop® Design programme. This had led to prestigious orders such as this one now for the VIP bar in the Olympic swimming pool”.