Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
countries in the world with the money and the chutzpah to dream—and
build—big. China, in other words, is where the world's big engineering and
architecture and design fi rms have fi rmly pegged their proverbial hammer
and nail.
Solutions for a Modern City: Arup in Beijing
proudly recounts, “As Chi-
na's political and cultural capital, Beijing has become a focal point for many
of these changes and is booming. . . . One fi rm, above all others, is closely
linked to the striking transformation taking place in Beijing today. h at fi rm
is Arup.”
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h us, Dongtan is best understood within the broader political and
architectural climate in an era in which the state is attempting to monu-
mentalize the coming Chinese Century.
imagining dongtan: “the quest to
create a new world”
On the face of it, Dongtan diff ered in a signifi cant way from Arup's other
major China projects, such as the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. It is also not,
like the Shanghai Tower, an epically high skyscraper. h e Shanghai Tower,
currently being built in Pudong as China's highest building (and the second
highest in the world), will join the Jin Mao and World Financial Tower as a
long-planned trinity. Its innovative double-skin façade creates better insu-
lation and energy savings (up to 24 percent, meaning lower construction
costs). h e Shanghai Tower, designed by the American architect Art Gensler,
was recognized by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in May 2010 as an
example of how China and the United States are working together to “give a
glimpse” of the future of green energy. h e building is organized as nine
cylindrical buildings stacked one atop another. h e spaces between the two
façade layers create nine atrium sky gardens. Rainwater is supposed to be
collected for the air conditioning and heating systems, and wind turbines
are supposed to power the building.
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Dongtan, by contrast, is fl at. It is not a megaskyscraper but rather is
conceptualized as a “blank slate” that could be the anti-Pudong or the
