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China's bustling city of Shanghai and its sprawling capital of Beijing are filled with historical structures and a dense population. Home to many architectural wonders, like the Great Wall, the National Stadium, and Shanghai Tower, China is booming with captivating structures. With a population... View full entry
The 250-year-old retirement digs of an 18th-century Chinese emperor are getting a face-lift.
The World Monuments Fund announced Monday that the New York-based architect Annabelle Selldorf and her firm, Selldorf Architects, will design an interpretation center at the Qianlong Garden in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
— The New York Times
According to the World Monuments Fund, "the interpretation center will be located in an existing, restored structure within the second courtyard of the Qianlong Garden." Juanqinzhai theater room after conservation. Image courtesy World Monuments Fund."Selldorf and her NYC-based firm, Selldorf... View full entry
Award-winning Swiss-French architect Bernard Tschumi has completed the Tianjin Binhai Exploratorium, a massive new museum that will be joining MVRDV's futuristic library as one of five main attractions in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin's growing recreational district. Photo by Kris... View full entry
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates just completed the 400-meter-tall China Resources Headquarters, now Shenzhen's third tallest building. The elegant skyscraper, which takes inspiration from the shape of the winter bamboo shoot, features a number of engineering marvels and impresses with a stunning... View full entry
The rapid transformation of downtown Los Angeles’ skyline is being fueled in good measure by huge investments from Chinese companies eager to burnish their global brands and capitalize on L.A.’s real estate boom.
Now some of those projects have become a focus of federal agents seeking evidence of possible bribery, extortion, money laundering and other crimes as part of a corruption investigation at City Hall.
— Los Angeles Times
The FBI search warrant lists a number of high-profile property developers and real estate companies from mainland China that have considerably shaped the skyline of Downtown Los Angeles with monumental high-rise projects in recent years, such as Shenzhen New World Group, Shenzhen Hazens... View full entry
Spanning over 600,000 square meters and including more than 100 structures, the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is one of the world's largest ice festivals. Running from January 5th through February, builders use over 8 million cubic feet of ice and snow to build illuminated... View full entry
Rising 88 metres (290 feet) from the floor of an abandoned quarry, the 18-storey InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland Hotel in the city’s Songjiang district has been in development for 12 years and cost 2 billion yuan (US$287.9 million) to complete.
Of its 18 floors, just two are aboveground while its two lowest are completely submerged by a lake that occupies the remainder of the vast quarry pit.
— South China Morning Post
Remember the Chinese 'Deep Pit Hotel' that was poised to open inside an abandoned quarry outside of Shanghai? Officially titled InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland, the 336-room luxury property finally launched yesterday. View full entry
Carved into a sand dune along a quiet beach in the port city of Qinhuangdao, the new Ullens Center for Contemporary Art Dune Art Museum debuted its first art exhibition last month, after three years of construction. Aranya commissioned Beijing-based OPEN Architecture to design the museum, which... View full entry
It might sound like a plot cooked up by a cartoon villain, but a city in southwestern China is aiming to launch into space an artificial moon that could replace streetlights by bathing the ground in a “dusk-like glow.”
[...] the satellite’s mirror-like exterior would reflect sunlight down to Earth, creating a glow about eight times brighter than the moon. The artificial moon, which he said would orbit about 500 kilometers above Earth, could save $174 million in electricity from streetlights.
— NBC News
The capital of China's Sichuan province, Chengdu, could have its own illumination satellite 'moon' up in the skies by 2020, according to the People's Daily. Light pollution, and its documented health effects on humans and nocturnal wildlife, doesn't seem to be much of a concern to the officials... View full entry
An exhibit traveling around China is facing legal action by the artists the exhibit claims to be showcasing. According to Nikken Asian Review, a Chinese company has been putting on pop-ups since April that have been displaying forged works meant to be by contemporary Japanese artists Yayoi Kusama... View full entry
Local leaders hope the bridge will expand the potential for growth in the area, by easing access to cheaper land on the western side and ports and other infrastructure to the east.
Critics of the project say its goals are more political than economic, aiding efforts by China’s central government to bind the former colonies of Hong Kong and Macau more tightly with the rest of the country.
— The New York Times
Delayed by two years, billions of dollars over budget, and wrought with controversy, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge was officially declared open by China's leader Xi Jinping today. Designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Aedas with AECOM, the 34-mile structure required over... View full entry
“Given the diversity of the buildings emerging within the Qianhai area, our preference was for a simple, bold, and confident insertion into the existing master plan,” says Spence. “The formality derives from the existing road grid and building plots, combined with our desire to maximize the area of raised green park linking the city to the bay. It creates a new horizon against which people can orientate.” — Fast Company
In the bustling city of Shenzen, the growing metropolis that bridges Hong Kong to China's mainland, an exciting sky garden project will bring the city's transportation infrastructure to the sky. The team at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners are creating a mile long elevated pathway. The main... View full entry
Coinciding with Beijing Design Week, the China House Vision exhibition asked ten Chinese and Japanese design studios to envision the future of living. Presenting a diverse range of living environments that address issues such as population crowding, space travel and climate change, firms such as... View full entry
InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland (also known as the Deep Pit Hotel), will finally open its doors in October. The eye-popping, luxury hotel is standing out as a must-see destination in itself. Built mostly below ground in a deep pit of an abandoned quarry in southwestern Shanghai, it’s being hailed as a modern architectural wonder. [...]
Of its 18 floors, 16 are technically below ground, including two floors underwater.
— Lonely Planet
Image courtesy of Atkins."The hotel houses 337 rooms and suites that boast curved balconies where guests can enjoy views of the waterfalls spilling from the surrounding cliffs and the transparent glass waterfall built into the centre of the hotel," writes Lonely Planet on its website. What's not... View full entry
Wang Shu and his wife, Lu Wenyu, of China’s Amateur Architecture Studio want to protect Chinese culture and history by returning to artisanal building techniques and the use of materials such as natural stone, wood and bamboo. Wang Shu’s rejection of what he calls “professional, soulless architecture” has almost become a war cry. That kind of architecture, he believes, is ruining China. — South China Morning Post
Amateur Architecture Studio focuses on creating work that transcends the black and white divide of traditional and modern architecture. The duo have made it their mission to bring back handmade work and natural materials into modernization. China Academy of Art Xiangshan Campus by Amateur... View full entry
