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OMA has designed a new masterplan for Columbia Circle in Shanghai. A historically-rich area, Columbia Circle includes preserved colonial-era monuments as well as former industrial buildings. Located on a 4.7 hectare compound, the new master plan is the first urban renewal project in the city... View full entry
They were basically city blocks that functioned as gated communities, with guards manning the front entrance. The whole essence of old Shanghai was that life was lived horizontally — all the activity happened at street level...Commissioned mostly by Western developers, the first shikumen appeared in the 1870s...local contractors who built them drew upon the interior floor plans of traditional Chinese courtyard homes and local decorative motifs. — NYT
Taras Grescoe pens a paean to shikumen, alleyway complexes entered through a stone-framed kumen (gateway), which at one point housed approximately 80 percent of the population of Shanghai. While fewer authentic examples remain, the city has in recent years begun redeveloping, "fake vintage"... View full entry
“To work on architecture for culture and health is a social commitment during these challenging times,” states Steven Holl. His proposal for a new Cultural and Health Center in Shanghai has just received approval. Comprising two buildings set in a public landscape, the project is intended to... View full entry
Intended as both a counterpoint to the heavy industrial cranes that line Shanghai's West Bund as well as an art/exhibition space, SHL's new Cloud Pavilion is the permanent version of the wildly successful 2013 Shanghai biennial installation, which was intended only to last for two months.While the... View full entry
“One day at around eight in the morning, I was returning from the market when six of the developer’s thugs tackled me outside my home and pushed me into a car,” remembers Xi.
Several others, she says, climbed a ladder to her balcony. Xi says she screamed for her husband, but it was too late. There was a scuffle inside, and then black smoke poured out of their balcony window before the house went up in flames. Xi’s husband burned to death, and the developer’s men escaped.
— marketplace.org
Related stories in the Archinect news:How Chinese families are handling the country's ongoing mass evictionsPhotographer captures the changing face of ShanghaiNow THAT's a skywalk! Jin Mao Tower to open world's highest fenceless, all transparent walkway in Shanghai View full entry
Looking for something new to do in Shanghai? Well, if you're someone who enjoys dangling off a terrifyingly high ledge with nothing but a safety rope to stop you from plunging to your death, then have we got an activity for you!
Tomorrow, a skywalk will open outside of the 88th floor of the Jin Mao Tower in Lujiazui. [...] it will be the highest fenceless, all transparent walkway outside a high-rise building in the world and is sure to scare you senseless, 340 meters above the ground.
— shanghaiist.com
For more terrifying photos, head over to Shanghaiist (if you can handle it).Related stories in the Archinect news:Chinese glass-bottom walkway cracks below tourists – 3,540 feet above groundChina opens 590-foot-high glass-bottom bridgeSorry, Willis Tower, but Shanghai Tower just kicked you out... View full entry
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) joined officials of Shanghai Tower in unveiling the commemorative signboard designating Shanghai Tower the tallest building in China and the second-tallest building in the world. With a height of 632 meters, Shanghai Tower is only the third “megatall” building of 600 meters or higher in the world. — ctbuh.org
A tall plaque for a tall building: attendees of the ceremony included (from left to right) CTBUH China Office Board Member Junjie Zhang, President, ECADI, China Tall Building Awards Jury; Jiaming Cao, President, Architectural Society of Shanghai, China Tall Building Awards Jury; CTBUH China Office... View full entry
Elevator manufacturer Otis will build the world’s tallest elevator test tower in Shanghai, as part of the company’s bid to develop lifts for skyscrapers in China and around the world.
The elevator test tower will be 270 metres high and it is an anticipated to be the tallest above-ground test tower in the world upon completion, Otis said on Tuesday.
— GB Times
In addition to being the home of the tallest building in the world with Gensler's Shanghai Tower, in 2018 Shanghai will also have the distinction of having the globe's tallest elevator test tower, which, to judge from Otis' renderings, could be described generously as occupying the extreme end of... View full entry
Graham Fink has been documenting the demolition sites of Shanghai for five years, trying to capture the state of flux during this period of rapid urbanisation. His Ballads of Shanghai exhibition is at London’s Riflemaker gallery until Sunday. — the Guardian
With an eye for the juxtaposition of graphic imagery and demolition sites, Graham Fink takes fascinating images of a city under the midst of mass transformations. His camera is drawn, in particular, to remnants of street art and commercial advertisements. For other depictions of the built... View full entry
Shanghai Tower has officially completed as the tallest building in China and the second-tallest building in the world. [...]
The completion of Shanghai Tower is especially notable for pushing Chicago’s 442-meter Willis Tower (originally Sears Tower), once the world’s tallest building, out of the Top 10 list for the first time since it completed in 1974. Willis Tower was among the Top 10 Tallest Buildings for 41 years
— ctbuh.org
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat goes on to say: "Given the rapid development of urban centers in these regions and the new heights that are being realized by contemporary tall buildings, CTBUH data projects that it will be less than five years before Willis Tower also falls out of... View full entry
As part of Director Hernan Diaz Alonso's plan to increase the global reach of SCI-Arc, the school is officially launching a four-week Shanghai-based program to be led by Steven Ma (SCI-Arc M.Arch ‘10) in the summer of 2016. The program's studios, which will incorporate a mix of industrial... View full entry
No two people, let alone architects, perceive even the most frequented cities in the same way. How do designers experience their cities as locals?As the largest metropolis in mainland China and the world, Shanghai continues to boom at a dizzying pace. Among all the sights and sounds within the... View full entry
In Stefano Cerio's series “Chinese Fun,” he explores the facades of amusement without an audience’s reaction. The photographer enters areas built for fun and leisure in the off months or closing hours, exploring the absurdity that creeps into the architecture of entertainment when there is no one to enjoy it but a single camera. — Colossal
Shijingshang Park-BeijingShanghai Happy Valley-ShanghaiWater Cube-Beijing. Photo by by Stefano Cerio.Cover of Stefano Cerio's recently released book, Chinese Fun. Click here to see more of the series.All photos by Stefano Cerio.In other recent amusement/bemusement-park news: Banksy about to open... View full entry
He’s Mr. Lifestyle of the rich and famous, do you want a piece of him? No not Britney Spears, but rather world-renowned architect Renzo Piano. Visitors to the recent Piece by Piece: Renzo Piano Building Workshop at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai were engaged in the evolution of the... View full entry
The Shanghai Tower is projected to be the one megatall tower to be completed this year, according to The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's 2014 Tall Building Data Research Report. Since construction began in 2008, the 632-meter structure recently began its final phase.Designed by a... View full entry