Defying signs that the global economy is in a major downturn, the 2,074-foot-tall Shanghai Tower, designed by Gensler, broke ground on Friday, November 28. The mixed-use glass-and-steel tower is slated to be the tallest building in China.
Studio Pei-Zhu Designs Museum for Iconic Chinese Artist While the devastating Sichuan earthquake in May left a large portion of Western China in ruins, signs are emerging that some notable building projects in the area are pushing forward. One of these projects is the Art Museum of Yue Minjun, designed by Beijing-based Studio Pei-Zhu, a 2007 Design Vanguard winner. Image courtesy Studio Pei-Zhu Located near the Qingcheng Mountains, and adjacent to the Shimeng River in Sichuan Province, the 10,700-square-foot museum will house the work of Yue Minjun, a Chinese contemporary artist known for his repetitive images of large, smiling figures.
Appended: June 13, 2008 Adding another mega-terminal to China’s aviation landscape, the Shenzhen Airport Authority announced it has selected Rome-based Fuksas Architects, run by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, to design the new Terminal 3 at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport.
This grand station serves as an intermodal hub for intercity trains, local rail lines, taxis, buses, and private cars. But with its enormous circular roof and glass drum, it also acts as an important landmark for the southern part of Shanghai and a symbol of a city that seems to be always on the move.
An American-trained Taiwanese architect, Joshua Pan is best known for the large building complexes and tall skyscrapers he has designed since establishing J.J. Pan & Partners in Taipei in 1981. In 2000, Pan expanded his firm to mainland China, establishing Horizon Design as his mainland subsidiary. To accommodate his growing staff there, he acquired an old industrial building in the Yangpu district of Shanghai and converted it into offices for Horizon Design.
Banyan Tree Inspires Shape of Taiwan's Largest Arts Hall The Dutch firm Mecanoo is designing the largest performing arts facility in Taiwan: the 1-million-square-foot National Performing Arts Center. It will be located inside Wei-Wu-Ying Metropolitan Park, a former military base, in the city of Kaohsiung. Mecanoo won the commission in 2007 after competing against Zaha Hadid of London, Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama Amorphe of Tokyo, Artech Architects of Taiwan, and Weber + Hofer Architects of Switzerland. Images courtesy Mecanoo Mecanoo has designed an undulating topographical roof structure for Taiwan’s National Performing Arts Center (top). The design was inspired by the banyan
Amid the rush to modernize, Chinese cities are becoming homogenized and losing their distinct identities, laments Pei Zhu, principal of the eponymous office, Studio Pei-Zhu, which he started in 2005, after leaving Urbanus [RECORD, December 2005, page 100], the firm he cofounded in 1999.
OMA's Beijing Office Designs Residential Tower for Singapore Three years after establishing its Beijing office, the Rotterdam-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has announced the first project spearheaded entirely by this branch: Singapore Scotts Tower, a 36-story, 68-unit condominium tower for the Far East Organization, Singapore’s largest private development company. Image: Courtesy OMA OMA’s Beijing office has designed Singapore Scotts Tower, a 36-story, 68-unit condominium building in Singapore. By eliminating most of the lower floors, OMA created a residential tower where essentially only top floors exist. Designed by partner Ole Scheeren and associate Eric Chang—both veterans of OMA’s Prada projects—the
In China, the business practice of bootlegging is not just confined to DVDs and Louis Vuitton handbags. Foreign architects have discovered that their designs, even their company names, are also attracting copycats. But some are beginning to fight back. In one of the first cases in which the government is allowing a foreign firm to sue a Chinese business, Woodhead International, Australia’s second-largest design firm, filed a lawsuit in Shanghai earlier this year against its former local partner on the basis of “unfair competition.” Very few of these cases ever made it to a Chinese court in the past because