The famed Beijing Water Cube, which has since been renamed as the Beijing National Aquatics Center, will reopen as a massive indoor water park open to the public in July.
The “cube,” which is actually a cuboid, since it’s height is not the same as its length and width, was home to the 2008 Olympic Swimming, which was one of the fastest meets in history: there were a total of 25 world records broken at the meet.
The original capacity of the Cube was 17,000, but will be stripped down to 6,000 to make room for shops, clubs, gyms, and other business, as well as giant slides. It’s reported that the tallest slide in the park will reach 75 feet into the air. The park will be open to the public for a small admission fee, and will be used for fun, as well as for training elite athletes.
Although the final square footage of the park in it’s final configuration has not been publically reported, the footprint of the building covers over 340,000 square feet. This would make the park unofficially the second largest indoor water park in the world. Despite its massive size, it is dwarfed by the largest indoor park: The Tropical Islands Resort in Krausnick Germany houses 710,000 square feet of indoor water-themed fun. Not only is Tropical Islands the largest indoor water park in the world, it’s actually the largest freestanding building in the world (meaning a single hall without any supporting walls or pillars inside).
Tropical Islands is open 24/7/365, so if you’re ever in Eastern Germany and need a place to squeeze in a good 2 AM workout while battling jetlag, you know the place to go.
Tropical Islands Resort in Krausnick, Germany, the World's Largest Indoor Water Park