If you look closely at the outer walls of the Beijing National Aquatic Centre, which is covered by a membrane of blue bubbles, it's easy to think the frothy design is just as 'random' as the foam in your bathtub.
But they belie a repeating mathematical pattern that scientists believe holds the secret to nature's efficient use of space.
The pattern on the centre's walls is easy to miss: the untrained eye would not guess it consists of 14-sided and 12-sided shapes in groups of eight, all cut at an odd angle to make the suds seem 'organic' rather than a mathematically rendered style that inspired the architect.
In three-dimensional form, the arrangement is called the Weaire-Phelan structure, dubbed the 'most efficient bubble foam', developed by Irish theoretical physicists Denis Weaire and Robert Phelan.
Their model is the most efficient way to partition space into equal-volume cells while minimising surface area - something soap bubbles strive to do in nature.
The scientists were pleasantly surprised when they found out about the Beijing building's design, a practical application of a structure they and their lab team at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) worked on for years and introduced in 1993.