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To cite this article: Patrick X. W. Zou & Rob Leslie-Carter (2010) Lessons Learned from Managing
the Design of the Water Cube National Swimming Centre for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games,
Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 6:3, 175-188
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3763/aedm.2010.0114
ARTICLE
Faculty of the Built Environment, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Arup Project Management, Sydney, Australia
Abstract
This article discusses the main lessons learned from the management of the design of the Water Cube National
Swimming Aquatic Centre (a landmark building for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games), including forming an
international partnership, managing cultural differences and risks, dealing with intellectual property and
ownership of design to establish a legacy. The article also discusses design management strategies and
innovations. It was found that Beijings lack of regulatory transparency, regional differences and a relationshipbased business culture were some of the factors that made China a challenging project environment. Cultural
understanding and relationship (guanxi) building were fundamental strategies in responding to these
challenges. It was also found that developing a shared ownership of intellectual property and innovative design
ideas may facilitate the collaboration between Western and Chinese partners. In addition, it was necessary for
the foreign design and project management teams to be continuously involved in the construction stage to
ensure the conversion of design into reality, construction quality and personal fulfilment.
B Keywords China; design innovation; design management; guanxi; interface management; international project
Lessons Learned from Managing the Design of the Water Cube National Swimming Centre 177
Lessons Learned from Managing the Design of the Water Cube National Swimming Centre 179
INNOVATIONS
Several innovations were implemented in this project,
as discussed below.
INTERFACE MANAGEMENT
It was a challenge to coordinate 20 specialist
engineering disciplines, ensuring that the complex
interfaces of the Water Cube were properly
understood
and
documented.
The
project
management team introduced an interface
management strategy that divided the component
parts of the Water Cube into volumes defined by
physical and time boundaries, which were described
in a project volume register. Each volume was owned
by a sub-project team best placed to manage the
coordination. At the very start of the design process,
the project management team identified volumes and
assigned owners. An interface occurred when
anything touched or crossed a boundary. Initially all
Lessons Learned from Managing the Design of the Water Cube National Swimming Centre 181
HUNTING IN PACKS
To remove potential pinch points from specific key
staff becoming overloaded, and to allow technical
staff more freedom, project managers established
semi-independent teams with their own leadership,
to progress in parallel streams. These teams
included design, product research, stakeholder
engagement and commercial issues such as scope,
contract and fees: for example, establishment of
clear interfaces to allow the finalization of structural
geometry and research into the ETFE fac
ade
performance to proceed without holding up the
general space planning of the building. On the
back of the success of the Water Cube, it was
effective to employ a model of having specialist
project managers providing leadership, while giving
freedom to technical staff to add more value to the
design process. Embedding project management
into the business was more easily accepted, as the
specialist project managers also had technical
engineering backgrounds. In this way they were able
to contribute at all levels, rather than ever being
perceived as a non-technical overhead.
Lessons Learned from Managing the Design of the Water Cube National Swimming Centre 183
LESSONS LEARNED
LESSON 1 FORMING AN INTERNATIONAL
PARTNERSHIP
The unusual thing about the Beijing Olympics is that
international designers were invited to participate at
all which was not the case in Sydney and other
previous Olympic host cities. One reason was that
the challenge was of such a huge scale that Beijing
recognized it needed solutions from both home and
abroad. This attitude set the tone for a genuine
two-way collaboration on the Water Cube where
Western and Eastern perspectives worked together
with mutual respect and openness.
Generally speaking, project-oriented JV is one of
the major entrance models of international companies
for undertaking business in countries other than
their motherhood (Ng et al., 2007). This is partly
because the specific political and macro-economical
conditions in the host country may significantly
impact project performance. Furthermore, the
unique characteristics of each project are highly
associated with JV performance, and appropriate
strategies should be developed to handle particular
risks and problems associated with the project
(Ozorhon et al., 2007; Zou et al., 2007; Zou and
Wong, 2008). When focusing on international
Lessons Learned from Managing the Design of the Water Cube National Swimming Centre 185
Lessons Learned from Managing the Design of the Water Cube National Swimming Centre 187
CONCLUSIONS
This article has discussed the major lessons learned
from managing the design of the Water Cube
Aquatic Swimming Centre for the Beijing 2008
Olympic Games. Many aspects of the Water Cube
project delivery were new and unique to the project
management team, which required innovative design
and management strategies and solutions. Virtually
every aspect has been a lesson learned of some
sort. It is important that these lessons learned be
captured and successfully taken forward for
development on future projects.
It is found that the design and management of a
complex international project like the Water Cube
must be innovative so as to meet client
expectations. These may include developing project
implementation
strategic
plans,
developing
interface management strategies and designing for
safety; after all the most important strategy is to
recruit and lead clever people who may resist
being led and resist working to deadlines. It was
found that the complex and dynamic nature of the
Chinese market, its lack of regulatory transparency
and a relationship-based business culture were
among the factors that made China a challenging
project
environment.
As
such,
cultural
understanding and relationship (guanxi) building
were fundamental strategies in responding to these
challenges. It was also found that there is a need
for
the
design
and
management
teams
involvement in the construction stage to ensure the
conversion of design into reality and construction
quality as well as the fulfilment of professional and
personal satisfaction.
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