China Portfolio: From the Linked Hybrid to the Bug Dome

For our second portfolio for Places, we've selected a group of projects conceived and built to serve the booming population and industry of the People’s Republic of China.

China’s new era of nation building is especially impressive in Shanghai, where the upscale development of the past two decades recalls the glamorous heyday of the city in the 1920s and '30s, prior to the establishment of Communist rule in 1949, when the city was called "the Paris of the East"; no wonder this year's Shanghai Expo is attracting record crowds. But the nation's building boom is evident also in the capital city of Beijing, site of the 2008 Summer Olympics and also the largest airport in the world, a Foster + Partners creation with a footprint bigger than the Pentagon. The building boom has practically monopolized the world’s steel resources, and to monumental architectural effect: Kohn Pedersen Fox’s World Financial Center, Herzog & de Meuron’s “bird’s nest” Olympic stadium, and the striking CCTV tower by Rem Koolhaas are just a few of Beijing's new landmarks.

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The built projects presented here, which also include works in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chongqing and Macao, represent a cross-section of noteworthy construction on Chinese soil just in the past five years. Some — like the bamboo performance pavilion erected for the Shenzhen Biennale — are temporary, but most are meant to last.

— Kelsey Keith

A Note about the Portfolio

This is the second in a series of thematic design portfolios that Architizer is creating for Places; as part of our collaboration, Places will share selected content with Architizer. Architizer is a crowd-sourced database of firms and projects, in which transparency becomes the currency that unites the design field across geography and practice. Places at Design Observer explores critical issues in contemporary architecture and urbanism, focusing in particular on the public realm as physical place and social ideal. Our collaboration, with Architizer's wide net of constantly updated building projects, is sharply defined through Places' curatorial lens.

— The Editors, Places and Architizer

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I go to these places daily. Surprised nevertheless to see a few new spots in your list. In Shenzhen the unique buildings are usually surrounded by messes-shoddy old low-rises, boring boxes, triple-parking tangles. But I've noticed Shanghai especially has succeeded in making whole neighborhoods modern, clean, and enjoyable. This trend should become more the rule as China's urban revamp proceeds.

Ed Irons
07.31.10 at 12:30

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ABOUT THE SLIDESHOW

A selection of recent projects in the People's Republic of China, curated by Architizer.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Architizer is an open, web-based community created by architects for architects.

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