China Landscape Architect

Besides its iconic Bund, Shanghai has plans to preserve as much of its less than 100-year-old architectural and cultural heritage.

EVEN though Shanghai does not have much architectural heritage, the city is doing everything it can to preserve whatever is there.

AN “Observatory Bridge” on the 100th floor of the 492-meter Shanghai World Financial Center in Pudong New Area will open on August 30.

London, England. Two of the UK’s leading proponents of green roofs have teamed up to produce ‘THE DIY GUIDE TO GREEN & LIVING ROOFS’ - a guide aimed at individuals with a Do-It-Yourself inclination along with those having trouble persuading local contractors to take up the challenge of installing a green roof on their behalf.

‘The DIY Guide to Green & Living Roofs’ is available to buy in eBook formats at http://www.livingroofs.org/DIY_Guide_intro.html for GBP 11.65.

This ancient capital city, long known for the architectural splendor of its centuries-old palaces and temples, is getting a new look that could have been plucked from science fiction.

A series of landmarks, notable for their futuristic design, will greet visitors to the Olympics. They include an Olympic stadium that looks like a giant bird’s nest, a swimming venue literally built of bubbles and a pair of black office towers that lean toward each other at a 10-degree angle.

The 80-storey “Dynamic Tower,” will be a shifting skyscraper of luxury apartments on spinning floors, which will be attached to a central column.

Plans for the project were unveiled in New York by Italian architect David Fisher, who said: “This building will have endless different shapes”.

CHINA’S tallest building, to be built in Shanghai, will look like a coiled dragon, according to its designer. The 580-meter-high Shanghai Center will top the city’s skyline.

The US firm Gensler and the Shanghai-based Architectural Design & Research Institute of Tongji University. A dozen overseas and domestic firms offered designs for the building from April 2005 but Gensler’s “Dragon” finally defeated the “Bamboo Shoot” from Britain’s Foster & Partners.

CHINA. Leading airport retail design company The Design Solution and commercial revenues specialist Airport Solutions have been appointed to help exploit the commercial areas at Xianyang Airport in Xi’an, home of the famous Terracotta Warriors. The partners will create the new commercial zones for the new Terminal 3 with technical support from engineering and design group Arup.

China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MHURD) stressed in a circular on Tuesday that infrastructure restoration was a priority in reconstruction after the May 12 earthquake.

The MHURD ordered governments at all levels to draw up construction plans by June 8, including building locations and materials.

It instructed officials to better manage construction of interim housing in quake-hit areas to ensure its safety.

The government is to assess all school buildings in quake zones, said a statement from the earthquake relief headquarters of the State Council.

Local governments must organize personnel to conduct safety appraisals of all school buildings as soon as possible to ensure the safety of students as they return to school, according to the statement.

The upcoming 2008 Olympic Games are inspiring some show-stopping buildings and technologies, among them the Greenpix Zero Energy Media Wall by New York based architecture & media firm Simone Giostra & Partners. Visible from up to a kilometer away on one of Beijing’s most congested main roads, the 20,000 square foot bright light facade of the Xicui entertainment complex is more than stunning, it’s surprisingly strong in its green credentials. The Greenpix Zero Energy Media Wall is the world’s largest color LED display, and has a self sustaining energy life-cycle. Harvesting sunlight collected during the day via photovoltaic solar cells, the wall uses stored solar energy to light up the LED’s for a spectacular nighttime show.

At last night’s 2008 AJ100 Awards dinner, Foster + Partners won three major practice awards and Norman Foster was honoured by his peers, who named him as their ‘most admired architect’.

Foster + Partners won awards for the ‘International Practice of the Year’, ‘Sustainability Initiative of the Year’ and the regional award for the South East and London. The practice was also placed as the third-largest overall. The AJ100 Awards recognise the achievements of the largest 100 architectural practices in the UK based on survey results; the ‘International Practice’ and ‘Sustainability Initiative of the Year’ awards are presented at the jury’s discretion.

The judges described Foster + Partners as ‘a clear and outright winner for breadth of coverage, for entering into new markets and for being a global brand.’