Chinese Architecture : Buildings in China

Architecture in China

Chinese Building Developments - by city

Major Recent Chinese Building Designs

Architecture Designs in China - latest additions to this page, arranged chronologically:

Parc 66, Jinan, north east China - award news
Design: Benoy

image from architect
Parc 66 China - award news
Benoy is extremely honoured to announce that Parc 66 has won the 2013 Best of the Best VIVA (Vision-Innovation-Value-Achievement) Sustainable Design and Development Award. The award was presented as part of the International Council of Shopping Centre’s (ICSC) global awards program at the ICSC annual RECon Conference in Las Vegas.

Museum of Handcraft Paper, Gaoligong, China
Design: Trace Architecture Office

photo : AKAA
Museum of Handcraft Paper - 1 May 2013
The museum building is located close to a village at the foot of Gaoligong Mountain, in the province of Yunnan, an area of significant Muslim presence. It provides exhibition space for ancient paper craft and artefacts produced locally.

Sanya Super Market, Hainan, southern China

image from architect
Sanya Supermarket Building Hainan - 29 Apr 2013
The idea is now to place the main shopping volume underground. The Super Market can directly draw its customers from the large basement parking below the residential buildings. In addition delivery and logistics can now disappear underground as well.

Dalian Library Building, north east China
Design: Preston Scott Cohen, Inc.

image from architect
Dalian Library China - 26 Apr 2013
Datong Library aims to resolve the tension between the two major roles of a central library: as a place of community promenade and gathering and as an archive of knowledge and quite place of study. The form of the building embodies this tension, centering on a reflected pair of exceptional spaces. At the heart of the spaces of public promenade is a garden courtyard, around which classrooms, a gallery, informal reading rooms, and an auditorium are arrayed.

Hongqiao Airport Central Business District, Shanghai, easterm China
Design: MVRDV

image from architect
Hongqiao Airport CBD - 25 Apr 2013
Sincere Property, MVRDV and Aedas have started construction on a Central Business District at Shanghai’s mostly domestic airport Hongqiao. The 4.5ha site is located near Hongqiao Airport train station at the corner of Shenhai Express Way and Shenbin Road. The plan comprises ten office towers, an underground shopping centre, cultural program, parking and a sunken plaza which will bring a more intimate form of urban life into an area currently dominated by large boulevards and urban expressway’s. The project’s completion is planned for 2015.

National Maritime Museum Tianjin, north east China
Design: HAO + AI

image from architect
National Maritime Museum Tianjin - 19 Apr 2013
The proposal for the new National Maritime Museum is situated in Northern China, outside the city of Tianjin. The museum is designed to house both new and old maritime items with a focus on celebrating the historical achievements of Chinese naval exploration through out time. HAO and AI, along with three other teams, have been invited to participate in the National Maritime Museum competition, situated outside the city of Tianjin in Northern China.

Forte Nanshan, Chongqing, central China
Design: SPARK

photo : Jonathan Leijonhufvud / Fernando Guerra
Forte Nanshan - 18 Apr 2013
SPARK’s playful Clubhouse in Chongqing has opened to the public. The Clubhouse is the first part of a series of leisure facilities SPARK designed for a large villa community in the outskirts of Chongqing. Apart from the 5,500 sqm clubhouse SPARK’s masterplan proposal includes a 12,000 sqm hotel and a 13,000 sqm outdoor retail street which will be completed early 2013.

Guangzhou Science Town, Guangzhou, southern China
Design: SPARK

photo : Guangzhou Vanke
Guangzhou Science Town - 17 Apr 2013
Located at the heart of East Guangzhou’s Science Town district Spark’s project comprises a retail street and a SOHO residential development. A contemporary interpretation of the Xintiandi (Heaven on Earth) urban village a car-free shopping, eating and residential district is composed of 2 storey shop lots that face the highway and a central alley and public square.

Wuxi TaiHu Masterplan, Wuxi, Shanghai, eastern China

image from architect
Wuxi TaiHu Masterplan - 16 Apr 2013
Benoy, a world leader in architecture, masterplanning, interior architecture and graphic design, has been selected by Lan Kwai Fong Group for the new Wuxi TAIHU Cultural District and Wuxi Lan Kwai Fong, located in TaiHu New Town.

China Wood Sculpture Museum, Harbin, northern China
Design: MAD Architects

photo : Iwan Baan
China Wood Sculpture Museum Building - 10 Apr 2013
MAD Architects unveiled the completed China Wood Sculpture Museum located in Harbin, China. The 200-meter long building, sheathed in metal, sits nestled in a densely residential area, adding a cultural and surreal essence to the surrounding urban context. Appearing so evident amidst a thriving metropolitan district of Harbin, the China Wood Sculpture Museum sits as a locational anomaly, seemingly out of place, surrounded by a densely populated Chinese-style neighborhood and residential complexes.

National Convention and Exhibition Centre, Tianjin, north east China

image from architects
Tianjin National Convention and Exhibition Centre - 19 Mar 2013
With their design for this major new building, the architects won the 1st prize of an international design competition, beating FUKSAS, HHP, NBBJ/BIAD and others. In addition to Shanghai and Guangzhou, Tianjin is now the third city where an exhibition centre of international importance will be built. With a total square area of 1.2 million square metres and dedicated exhibition floor space of 400,000 square metres, one of the world’s largest exhibition centres will be created in the east of China over the next few years.

Nanjing Road Development Qingdao, eastern China
Design: Santiago Parramón, RTA-Office in collaboration with Tengyuan Design Institute Co.

image courtesy of RTA-Office
Nanjing Road Development Qingdao - 5 Feb 2013
The mixed-use project occupies an entire block of the city of Qingdao. We have studied thoroughly the environment and character of the city to propose a project that the city can feel its own project and that has a unique character.

Bamboo Courtyard Teahouse, Yangzhou, north of Shanghai, eastern China
Design: Harmony World Consulting & Design (HWCD)

photograph : T+E
Bamboo Courtyard Teahouse - 22 Jan 2013
Located in the ShiQiao garden in Yangzhou, a city to the northwest of Shanghai, this is the floating Bamboo Courtyard Teahouse designed by Chinese architect Sun Wei, partner of HWCD. As an international design practice, with offices in London and Barcelona, HWCD has been developing various projects, specializes in boutique hotels, residents and mix-use projects.

Chengdu Tianfu Cultural Centre
Design: Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas

image © Studio Fuksas
Chengdu Tianfu Cultural Centre - 21 Dec 2012
Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas have won the international competition for the construction of the first cultural center in the city of Chengdu. This city is the capital of Sichuan province and was hit by a terrible earthquake in 2008.

Tower of Ring, Tianjin
Design: EASTERN design office + Kawaguchi & Engineers

photograph : Koichi Torimura
Tower of Ring - 11 Dec 2012
People forget which one they look up to: the tower or the sky. It has an eye-opening shape, its beginning and ending is invisible. It is designed like a flow of stream, yet the form is very simple.
No observatory to climb up.

Sky City Tower - World's Tallest Building, Changsha
Construction is due to start in December on the world’s tallest building, China, which will be completed in just 90 days.

World Tallest Building image © BROAD Group
World Tallest Building - 26 + 23 Nov 2012
Height: 838 m high; Floors: 220 storeys
Expected completion: Mar 2013

Qintai Center, Wuhan, east China
Design: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

image from architects
Chinese skyscraper Building - 2 Oct 2012
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is pleased to announce that it has won an international competition to design Qintai Center, a 248-meter (814-feet) tall, high-performance corporate headquarters tower and related podium structure in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. AS+GG’s winning entry was selected over competing schemes from firms based in the Netherlands, Japan and Hong Kong.

Oct Design Museum, Shenzhen, southern China
Design: Studio Pei-Zhu

photo : Studio Pei-Zhu
Oct Design Museum China - 30 May 2012
The inspiration for the project comes from both the location being close to the bay and from the needs of the program, a surreal space for design exhibitions. The Oct design museum focuses mainly on fashion shows, product design, and conceptual automotive shows.

Chinese Buildings - Major Designs

Beijing Olympics Aquatic Building - The Water Cube PTW with Arup photograph © Arup_Ben McMillan Water Cube Beijing	Bird's Nest - Chinese Nat. Stadium Building Arup, Herzog & De Meuron, China Architecture Design & Research Group photo © Arup_Ben McMillan Birds Nest Beijing
British Pavilion Shanghai 2010 Heatherwick Studios picture from architect Shanghai Expo Building	Capital Airport, Beijing Foster + Partners image : Nigel Young_Foster + Partners Chinese Airport Building
Central Chinese Television Tower Rem Koolhaas Architects / OMA picture from architect Chinese TV Building, Beijing	Chengdu Complex, southwest China Steven Holl Architects photo : Iwan Baan Sliced Porosity Block
Chengdu Museum Sutherland Hussey picture from architect Chinese Museum building	China World Trade Tower, Beijing Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) photo : SOM, architects China World Trade Tower
CITIC Headquarters Tower, Hangzhou Foster + Partners image © Foster + Partners CITIC Headquarters China	Congress Center, Hangzhou Peter Ruge Architekten photo : Jan Siefke Congress Center Hangzhou
Dalian Football Stadium UNStudio image from architect Dalian Football Stadium	Dalian International Conference Center Coop Himmelb(l)au render : COOP HIMMELB(L)AU Dalian International Conference Center
Galaxy Soho Beijing Zaha Hadid Architects image from architects Galaxy Soho Beijing	Guangzhou Opera House, Guangzhou Zaha Hadid Architects photo : Virgile Simon Bertrand Guangzhou Opera House
Guangzhou TV Tower Information Based Architecture photo : Information Based Architecture Guangzhou TV Tower	Lafayette 148, Shantou, Guangdong Studio for Architecture photograph : But-Sou Lai Lafayette 148
Liangzhu Culture Museum, Zhejiang David Chipperfield Architects photograph © Christian Richters Chinese Museum Building	Linked Hybrid, Beijing Steven Holl Architect photo from SGLA Beijing building
Museum of Contemporary Art Shenzhen Coop Himmelb(l)au image : SILKROAD Digital Technology Co. LTD Museum of Contemporary Art Shenzhen	Nanjing Museum of Art & Architecture Steven Holl Architects picture from architect Nanjing Museum
Phoenix International Media Center BIAD UFo picture from architects Phoenix International Media Center, Beijing	Shanghai Tower Skyscraper Building Marshall Strabala, architect picture from architect Shanghai Tower
Shenzhen 4 in 1 Tower Buildings Design MVRDV image © MVRDV Shenzhen 4 in 1 Towers	Shenzhen Stock Exchange HQ Office for Metropolitan Architecture image from OMA Shenzhen building
Shenzhen Vanke Center Buildings Steven Holl Architects picture from SHA Shenzhen Vanke Center : Competition win	Z15 Tower, Beijing TFP Farrells, BIAD, ARUP and MVA picture from architect Z15 Tower