National Aquatics Center (effect view)

(BEIJING, Nov. 6) -- The National Aquatics Center, a major venue for the 2008 Olympic Games, has put on a total of 634 air cushions, or membrane structures on its outer layer.

The installation was completed on November 4, 11 days ahead of schedule, it was announced here on Monday. The cushion installation was kicked off on August 1 this year.

According to design requirements, all the steel structures of the center, dubbed the "Water Cube," should be covered by the cushions, made of a modified co-polymer called ethylene-tetra-fluoro-ethylene, or ETFE.

The "water cube" comprises over 100,000sqm of ETFE foils, making it the single largest, most complicated and most comprehensive ETFE structure in the world to date. The venue will be used for swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming competitions for the 2008 Olympic Games.