A Tall Storey

At the time of writing, Shanghai’s tallest buildings (in order of height):

» Shanghai Tower (Click here) Aiming for a 2014 completion date and rising supreme over Lujiazui; 121 storeys.

» Shanghai World Financial Center (Click here) A colossal, shimmering bottle-opener at the heart of Lujiazui; 101 storeys.

» Jinmao Tower (Click here) Crystalline, art-deco-inspired pagoda and Shanghai’s most attractive tower; 88 storeys.

» Plaza 66 Tower One (Click here) Puxi’s tallest building, best known for its exclusive mall slung out below; 66 storeys.

» Tomorrow Square (Click here) Dramatically futuristic aluminium-and-glass tower climbing into the skies above People’s Square; 55 storeys.

Shanghai Grand Theatre (Click here)
WIN INITIATIVE / GETTY IMAGES © ARCHITECT JEAN-MARIE CHARPENTIER

Concession Architecture

For many foreign visitors, Shanghai’s modern architectural vision is a mere side salad to the feast of historic architecture lining the Bund and beyond. Remnants of old Shanghai, these buildings are part of the city’s genetic code, inseparable from its sense of identity as the former ‘Paris of the East’.

Building the Bund

The Bund – Shanghai’s most famous esplanade of concession buildings – was built on unstable foundations due to the leaching mud of the Huangpu River. Bund buildings were first built on concrete rafts that were fixed onto wood pilings, which were allowed to sink into the mud. Because of the lack of qualified architects, some of the earliest Western-style buildings in Shanghai were partially built in Hong Kong, shipped to Shanghai, then assembled on site.

Neoclassical

Although the Bund contains the lion’s share of Shanghai’s neoclassical designs, arguably the most impressive is the Shanghai Art Museum in People’s Square. This beautiful red-brick building with a clock tower once formed part of the main stand at the old racecourse.

In the 1920s the British architectural firm of Palmer & Turner designed many of Shanghai’s major buildings (13 structures on the Bund alone), including the neoclassical Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) building, the Yokohama Specie Bank, the Custom House and other gems.

A triumphant example of Soviet neoclassical architecture is the Shanghai Exhibition Center.

Dome mosaics of HSBC Building (Click here)
LONELY PLANET / GETTY IMAGES ©

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14