Courtesy of SOM

Ground will be broken on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 for Skidmore Owing & Merrill LLP (SOM)’s newest building at Beijing’s China World Trade Center (CWTC) complex. The 58-story Phase 3B Tower features sleek horizontal bands of canted glass that wrap the building’s square floor plates. The 918-feet (280-meters) tall icon will be located immediately northeast of the 74-story, SOM-designed China World Trade Center Tower 3, completed in 2010—which is the tallest building in the Chinese capital. More images and complete press release after the break.

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Courtesy of OPEN Architecture

OPEN Architecture recently created a new kind of school system that provides a balanced and joyful learning environment integrated with farms and gardens. Drawing inspiration from the ancient Chinese philosophy which had always centered on the harmony between people and nature, the architects feel it is urgent to bring the ancient philosophy back to the core of our education, and put it in the context of new challenges ahead. If there is one thing that we have to put above all other issues for the 21st century, it is probably the vulnerability of nature, especially in the decades to come, and amidst all the looming environmental crisis. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

One hundred years have passed since Le Corbusier’s Voyage to the Orient. Although he didn’t venture into the Far East, his influence – and that of Modernism – is recognizable across the world. This conference, hosted by Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University October 18-19, looks at modernism’s significance to architecture and urbanism from Europe to India. It will explore its lasting, or fading, influence on China; and China’s influence on it. Architecture, and indeed the world, has changed massively over the last century, so this conference will explore what contemporary ideas can be drawn from different historical periods and different social circumstances. More information on the conference after the break. read more »

Courtesy of 10 Design

Located in close proximity to the central zone of the Futian District in Shenzhen, China, 10 Design‘s main design concept for the Yabao Hi-Tech Enterprises Headquarter Park was to try and integrate the complex into the natural landscape. Defining a strong urban edge on the southwestern edge of the site, the buildings begin to dissolve into nature as they move northeast across the site towards the lake. This mix-used complex is designed for a multifaceted community, which includes living, working, shopping recreation, and tourism. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Knafo Klimor Architects

Proposed by Knafo Klimor Architects, Agro-Housing was the winning project in Living Steel – Competition for Sustainable Housing (2007) for China.  Part housing, part greenhouse, the proposal provides agricultural freedom to city dwellers.  A combination of rural and urban amenities, the proposal is an exciting take on individual urban farming.

For a closer look at this innovative way of thinking about a sustainable urbanity, join us after the break.

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© Foster + Partners

Construction is underway for the new Datong Art Museum in China, designed by Foster + Partners. Referred to as China’s ‘Museum of the 21st Century’, the 32,000-square-meter venue will be one of four major new buildings within Datong New City’s cultural plaza. The museum will open in 2013 and represent China in the ‘Beyond the Building’ Basel Art international tour.

Luke Fox, a senior partner at Foster + Partners stated, “We are delighted to reveal designs for the new museum and look forward to working with the city to take the project to the next stage. When complete, Datong’s new quarter will be the center of the city’s cultural life, with the new museum as its ‘urban room’ – a dynamic space, open to everyone to meet and enjoy its different displays and activities.”

Continue after the break for more on the Datong Art Museum. read more »

Courtesy of Gensler

Soon to be the tallest building in China, the 632-meter Shanghai Tower is beginning to take shape. Located in the center of the Pudong district, the tower will become the centerpiece of the city’s international financial district. The transparent, mixed-use building will work as a “self-contained city”, housing 550,000 square-meters of world-class office, hotel, entertainment, retail and cultural venues. It is designed to achieve both LEED Gold certification and a China Green Building Three Star rating.

Global powerhouse Gensler won the Shanghai Tower commission in an invited multi-stage competition among many other leading international architects. Upon completion, the Shanghai Tower will be the second tallest building in the world, behind the 828-meter Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Continue after the break for more information and the latest construction images.

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Courtesy of Tao Lei Architect Studio

Architects: Tao Lei Architect Studio – Lei Tao, Bozhou Kang, Mingliang Zhao
Location: Beijing, China
Structure Area: 1,600 sqm
Structure Design: Qinghai Wang
Completion: 2011
Photographs: Courtesy of Tao Lei Architect Studio

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Courtesy of RTA-Office

The project developed by RTA-Office belongs to a large masterplan that includes three different museum buildings surrounded by a big green area. The Anhui Provincial Paleontological Fossils Museum and the Anhui Provincial New Museum are already built. RTA-Office was involved in the design of the third one, the Anhui Provincial Art Museum. Located in a new politic and cultural district in Heifei, China, the new building will occupy the southwest corner of the park. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of ide@s initiative of Cannon Design

Sponsored by Cannon Design, the ‘(un) Made in China’ Exhibition will be taking place April 20 – June 20 at the ide@s gallery in Shanghai, China.Thirty years of unprecedented growth have transformed China’s built environment and given it the reputation as a land of opportunity for architects today. While much attention – and some criticism – has been focused on major completed works, little is known of those projects that disappear, fizzle out, or sit abandoned in spite of the rich tradition within architecture of both celebrating and criticizing unbuilt work. “(un) Made in China” seeks to bring light to these could-have-been-transformative projects and the experiences they produced. At its heart is a series of interviews conducted with 12 international architecture practices, which generate a wealth of interesting, insightful, and often humorous accounts and accompanying these are architectural models and images of the unrealized projects. For more information, please visit here.

© Jonathan Leijonhufvud

Architects: SPARK
Location: Chongqing, China
Completion: 2011
Total GFA: 5,420 sqm
Project Director: Jan Felix Clostermann
Design Team: Ming Yin Tan, Eldine Heep, Cristina Perez Guillen, Leonardo Micolta, Javen Ho
Client: Forte
Interiors: One Plus Partnership Limited
Landscape: Hassell/Hong Kong
LDI: Chongqing Design Institute
Structure: Chongqing Design Institute
Photographs: Jonathan Leijonhufvud

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Courtesy of Zephyr Architects

Architects: Zephyr Architects 
Location: Dalian, China
Client: Genghai Co.
Project Area: 1,500 sqm
Project Year: 2011
Partner-in-Charge: Zhao Zhonggui
Project Architect: Yu Tong
Photographs: Shu He, Yao Li

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Courtesy of WAU Studio

A complementary and mutual beneficial partnership, Hong Kong and Shenzhen will join the globalization as an integrated image and get benefit. With intimate collaboration, the proposal for the Hong Kong-Shenzhen boundary control point by WAU Design will serve as a symbol of close communication. The scheme concept comes from “link”: many single units can be twisted into a solid and integrated form. This scheme, a twisted link, indicates multi-level and deep cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen on economic, cultural, and multi-faceted levels. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Trahan Architects

Trahan Architects have proposed a 4.3 million square-foot mixed-use development in the historic city center of Zhengzhou, China – the capital and largest city of the Henan province, with a population of 8.6 million. The concept is part of a broad scale master plan for redeveloping Zhengzhou through ecological and infrastructure development. Continue after the break for more images and the project description.

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Be sure to take advantage of the early bird special by April 30th for the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s 2012 World Congress, appropriately located in the skyscraper city of Shanghai. According to The Skyscraper Center, ten of the 20 tallest buildings in the world will be in China by 2020.

The Congress will examine poignant issues such as: Is the skyscraper a sustainable building type? Can tall buildings truly reduce and harvest enough energy to become carbon-neutral? What is the full impact on the city and the lives of its inhabitants by developing skyward? And what support mechanisms and urban infrastructure are required for such growth? CTBUH2012 has confirmed an impressive list of several Chinese leading developers, architects and engineers to speak at the World Congress. Continue after the break to review the full list. read more »

Courtesy of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA)

The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) recently launched a design competition to deliver one of the first landmark buildings for the West Kowloon Cultural District, the Xiqu Center. The Chinese opera venue will provide a world-class facility for the preservation and development of the art form in Hong Kong and will be designed to host and produce the finest examples of Cantonese and other Chinese opera performances.The Xiqu Center, scheduled for completion around the end of 2015, will be the first of 17 core arts and cultural venues to be opened within the District and one of 15 proposed performing arts venues. The deadline for submissions in April 10, 2012. More information on the competition after the break.

Occupying a prime site at the eastern edge of the District on the corner of Canton Road and Austin Road West, the center will provide a gateway of access to the Cultural District. The competition covers the design of a 1,100-seat main theatre, a 400-seat small theatre, a Tea House for performances for audiences up to 200 and ancillary training and education facilities. Michael Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of WKCDA said, “The competition heralds a new phase of the West Kowloon Cultural District development. We are proceeding to a detailed design stage and I am looking forward to working with inspired creative teams on the realization of our ambitions for the Cultural District.”

“Following the fantastic response to the West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre performances at the start of the Year of Dragon, we know Chinese Opera has a special place in the heart of Hong Kong people. We want to find a design team that can deliver for Hong Kong a world-class home for Chinese Opera practitioners, students and audiences and a facility fitting for such an important form of Chinese cultural heritage”

For more detailed information, please visit their official website here.

Courtesy of Woods Bagot

Serving Guangzhou, China as a distinctive emblem of China Southern Airlines’ global leadership, the winning proposal by Woods Bagot is a bold reinterpretation of the corporate campus model. A 400-hectare, mixed-use development, the three-precinct master plan integrates business, manufacturing, residential, and cultural amenities within a comprehensive open space network that supports recreational opportunity and bolsters ecological vitality. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of WAI Architecture

WAI Architecture Think Thank has completed a study for an architecture, urbanism and spatial politics laboratory in the center of Beijing. Conceived as an avant-garde institution for the education of environmental and spatial design, their design creates an educational center based on the principle of open learning and cross-disciplinarity. The building arranges the multiple programs in a sequence of open spaces and sloping floors that together form a continuous loop of learning experiences. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »