:applause:

北京天生的气质就是大气豪爽的，就算高楼没上海那么多，北京还是比上海大气很多很多。。。我们上海天生就很小气的。。。。

北京天生的气质就是大气豪爽的，就算高楼没上海那么多，北京还是比上海大气很多很多。。。我们上海天生就很小气的。。。。

I have a different point of view. Beijing represents the confident personality of China, for its glorious ancient history, its overwhelming political, military and cultural power projecting over Asia for the past 800 years. Sometimes Beijing tends to be a bit too egoist. While Shanghai is the less confident side of China, the self-recognition of the city is based on Western Standard and Western Judgments, which is reflecting the world’s broad reality these days. As China is getting to be a more mature modern country, I think Beijing would be less arrogant while Shanghai would be more self-respect.

Oldest residents well worth saving
2 November 2010
China Daily - Hong Kong Edition

Beijing, as just about everybody knows, is full of ancient things. Palaces and royal mansions have graced the capital for centuries, as have some of the city's winding hutong lanes, courtyard houses and time-honored shops.

And some grinning, wrinkled Beijingers seem pretty ancient too, as they sit sunning themselves in parks, push mahjong tiles around the board, chat with neighbors and play with grandchildren or great-grandchildren.

While few Beijingers, even the truly old ones, are 100 years old, the capital does have many living residents - its trees - that are several centuries old.

The image Beijing often projects to the international community is of a mix of ancient and modern structures - the bending steel ribs of the Bird's Nest, the blue bubbly exterior of the Water Cube, the CCTV tower and the vast open sweep of Tian'anmen Square contrasted with the stately red hues of halls in the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. But this image leaves out the capital's surprising greenness, one of its most endearing characteristics.

The capital is full of thousands of trees and many of them are gloriously big, with wide-spreading branches. Some of Beijing's older, shaded streets, such as Guloudongdajie and Nanchizidajie, are a joy to walk down simply because they seem like long green tunnels.

True, the city doesn't seem too green in the bitter grip of winter, when the leaves are gone, or in the smoggy haze of summer. But if you get up on an elevated vantage point in the downtown area in spring or fall, you can see the foliage spreading across the old streets, parks and hutong like a refreshing green blanket.

Beijing has at least 40,000 officially ancient trees, according to the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks, most of them are scholar trees, pines, junipers, gingkoes and cypresses and are in gardens, palace grounds and parks.

The authorities have put a green tag on every tree in the city verified as being older than 100. Those older than 300 have a red tag.

There are, according to the center, more than 3,600 300-year-old trees throughout the capital.

There are even a few 1,000-year-old cypresses, each about 20 meters high, in the parks and gardens at the southwestern edge of the Forbidden City.

Near the south gate of Beihai Park there are two 800-year-old, 30-meter-high whitebark pines.

Even though the trees are not trumpeted as heavily as the city's eye-catching monuments and buildings, local residents, officials and park managers are clearly concerned about keeping them in good health.

Those new to Beijing are often touched, if also a bit startled, to see workers wrapping or screening trees in parks with heavy burlap or cloth at the onset of cold temperatures, to keep winter sunscald at bay and protect delicate branches and roots.

Such winter damage, as well as drought in the summer, has taken its toll on some of the capital's old trees and Beijing's rapid development has reportedly affected the groundwater supply they rely on, leaving 20 percent of the city's ancient trees in declining health and 2 percent endangered.

So it's heartening to see Beijing officials recently spend millions of yuan on a program to rejuvenate ancient trees across the city. It is not cheap to treat these ailing old trees (sometimes as much as 500,000 yuan for a single one), but it is money well spent.

Beijing's scientific community is also helping preserve the city's legacy of ancient trees.

The genetic variety of the old trees is much less varied than that of the city's ordinary trees, according to the Beijing Science and Technology News. Efforts are already underway to clone 100 of the ancient trees using test tube tissue culture, to ensure the survival of the genes that help the trees live so long.

Such efforts are welcome because, without its pleasant foliage, downtown Beijing would lose some of its ancient charm.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CaoIcsWZxl0/TUZm0b4L4qI/AAAAAAAAT00/_AGdAY2cUVw/s1600/Z15-Tower-China-thumb-550x779.jpg

anyone knows if the Z15 tower is being constructed or not?


http://eforericyong.blogspot.com/2011/02/z15-tower-beijings-latest-skyscraper.html

^^That Z15 Tower needs a spire.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CaoIcsWZxl0/TUZm0b4L4qI/AAAAAAAAT00/_AGdAY2cUVw/s1600/Z15-Tower-China-thumb-550x779.jpg

anyone knows if the Z15 tower is being constructed or not?


http://eforericyong.blogspot.com/2011/02/z15-tower-beijings-latest-skyscraper.html

No, construction did not start yet.
They must first destroy all the existing buildings of that area (which have been empty for a long time now).

Beijing's first public rent apartment building roofed
21 February 2011
Copyright 2011 China Daily Information Company. All Rights Reserved.

The roof on Beijing's first government-subsidized rental apartment building is in place, local media reported Monday.

Eligible low-income earners need to take part in a lottery program before moving in. The building near Beijing's North Fifth Ring Road, consisting of 500-plus apartments, will be ready in March 2012, according to the report. The building still needs to be decorated.

Wang Weiguo is a project manager with the Ya Tai Urban Construction Group Co Ltd ¨C the company in charge of construction. He said his company is working carefully to ensure the building's quality, according to the report.

Selected tenants can live either in one- or two-bedroom apartments. The area of the one-bedroom apartments ranges from 44.19 to 48.22 square meters. The area of two-bedroom apartments ranges from 63.34 to 64.46 square meters.

There will not be a parking lot for tenants to park cars, but there is a garage underground for bicycles.

This 28-story building is 800 meters away from the nearest subway station, and it looks like an average commercial residential building.

Beijing will start the lottery program for a total of 10,000 public rent apartments as early as the first quarter of this year.

Beijing home sales slump in February
2 March 2011
Copyright 2011 China Daily Information Company. All Rights Reserved.

Beijing saw sharp declines in home sales in February following the enacting of a group of measures to cool the housing market, local authorities said on Mar 1.

The city reported sales of 3,436 new homes, down 70 percent from the sales figure in January, said Beijing's real estate transaction management website run by the municipal commission of housing and urban-rural development.

Existing home sales slumped 64.3 percent month on month to 8,376 units last month, the lowest volume in 25 months.

Apart from a series of cooling measures, Zhang Dawei, an analyst with the Centaline Property in Beijing, believed the fall in supply was also among the factors behind the sales slump.

Prices of more than 90 percent of housing projects remained stable last month, Zhang said. Centaline Property projects no large correction in housing prices in the city as supply remains at low levels in the first half of 2011, he said.

In the middle of last month, the Beijing municipal government moved to prohibit home purchases by non-local registered families who have no proof of social security or income tax payments in the city for five straight years. It also prohibited new home purchases by Beijing families who own two or more apartments, and non-Beijing registered families who own at least one apartment.

The latest efforts came on top of other tightening measures, including requiring higher down payments and lending rates and a ban on mortgage loans for third homes.

Beijing to spend $11.6b building southern city
10 March 2011
Copyright 2011 China Daily Information Company. All Rights Reserved.

Beijing municipal government is planning to invest 76.6 billion yuan ($11.6 billion) this year on 109 projects that includes the construction of an airport, a forest garden and affordable housing in the southern area of the city.

The funding will increase 38 percent from last year's 55.5 billion yuan that went to 103 projects, according to a statement released by the municipal government at a meeting on Mar 9.

Construction of some key projects will be started in April and October, including a forest garden along the axis of Beijing and a 51-km expressway that joins in the road network in surrounding Hebei province.

Thirty-four of the projects are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, according to the statement.

The southern area of Beijing is composed of five districts that cover an area of 3,367 square kilometers. It had a population of 4.6 million by the end of 2008, which accounts for 27.2 percent of Beijing's total residents.

^^That Z15 Tower needs a spire.

No, it looks wayyyy better without...

Mainland prices drop as cooling measures bite
16 March 2011
SCMP

Non-stop policy measures aimed at curbing demand and price growth in the mainland property market have finally forced developers to cut asking prices at new residential projects - a clear signal that market-wide price corrections are now under way, analysts say.

"China Vanke, the largest developer on the mainland, started to cut its asking prices at new projects two weeks ago and other privately owned developers have followed," said Alan Chiang Sheung-lai, the head of residential property at consultant DTZ on the mainland.

Kenneth Pak Kei-yuen, a general manager at Midland Realty on the mainland, said price cuts in new suburban projects were becoming common in Beijing.

Among the sharpest of the price-cutting measures so far has been at the second phase development of Sino Ocean Land's Poetry of River residential project in Beijing. The developer is offering a 17 per cent discount for buyers paying in cash, while buyers with mortgage plans will get a 16 per cent discount.

Under the discount scheme, the average asking price of the project was cut to 21,000 yuan (HK$24,920) per square metre this month, 16 per cent below the prices at which flats were sold in the first phase of the project last year.

Pak said other developers were offering discounts of 2 per cent to 4 per cent.

On Monday, China Evergrande Real Estate chief executive Xia Haijun said discounts of between 5 per cent and 20 per cent would be offered on some projects.

Beijing Roaming Wonderland, a project developed by China Vanke and Beijing Urban Construction Group, is offering a 4 per cent discount to full-payment buyers and a 2 per cent discount for buyers with mortgage plans.

Dickson Wong Hung, the chief executive of Centaline Property's China office, said developers had begun to lower their asking prices because banks had tightened conditions on property loans and restrictions were imposed on purchasing second homes. "Previously, about 30 per cent to 40 per cent of buyers in Beijing were foreigners or mainlanders from other provinces. However, we lost these buyers after the government imposed restrictions on buying homes," he said.

According to the firm, the absence of these buyers contributed to a 60 per cent fall in sales on the secondary market in the first half of this month, compared with the same period in January.

"We saw some developers begin to face capital pressure after the banks tightened property-loan conditions early this year. We now expect to see more developers cut their asking prices on new projects in the second quarter."

Wong said property prices in Beijing were now likely to fall by 10 per cent to 15 per cent by the end of this year from their price levels in January, and a similar correction was likely in other first-tier cities.

Alan Chiang of DTZ believed pressure on developers to continue cutting their prices would likely increase in the middle of this year, traditionally a peak season for new releases.

"Currently, most of the new housing supply is large residential flats. But we will see plenty of small and mid-sized flats released on the market in June and July. That will lead to a sharper fall in property prices."

Home of the future

This is LAVA's (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture) proposal for the Home of the Future, a showcase home for future living, with nature,
technology and man in a new harmony. Its located on the rooftop of a new furniture mall in Beijing and is planned to start construction in late
2011.

An ETFE geodesic skydome provides a year-round microclimate that opens up the home to a garden filled with sun, light and fresh air, away
from the pollution and noise of the city. Visitors will experience fifteen different living spaces, from internal/external bathroom zones to
kitchens flowing to veggie patches and bbqs to sunken bedrooms with dream inducing lighting.

At night the home and the tropical garden turn into an otherworldly experience, with the underlying technology, the electronic veins of the
system, coming to life.

The design is inspired by nature’s efficiencies – corals, cells and bubbles – and creates an environment where technologies are invisibly
integrated to satisfy everyday needs and senses.

Its fluid design and organizational strategy based on cells is easily modified to suit specific requirements.

The Home of the Future integrates the latest improvements in comfort and instantaneous information technology with a space that embraces
nature.

Chris Bosse, Director of LAVA says: ‘The Home of the Future acts as a metaphor for the questions of our times, our relationship with nature,
with technology and with ourselves’.

View renderings in high resolution (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=74947379#post74947379)

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/1332/homeofthefuture1x1000.jpg

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/8658/homeofthefuture2x1000.jpg

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/1250/homeofthefuture3x1000.jpg

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/8498/homeofthefuture5.jpg

No, it looks wayyyy better without...

Then it needs a new design.

looks like someones been watching too much avatar.

^^ thats good lol

Beijing would be like
Ancient + Modern + Future

looks like someones been watching too much avatar.

And Tron! ;)

China to invest more than 10 billion yuan in aerospace park
2 April 2011
People's Daily Online

The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation announced on March 31 that it will invest more than 10 billion yuan in constructing the Beijing Aerospace Industrial Park (BAIP) during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period.

It will allow a batch of high-tech projects such as safe city and emergency equipment, the Internet of Things, digital city and satellite applications to settle in Beijing, and achieve industrialization.

The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, its Second Institute and Third Institute as well as its branch company Aisino signed agreements with several Beijing departments to carry out the comprehensive cooperation in launching the construction of the Beijing Aerospace Industrial Park, promoting the construction of the Zhongguancun National Self-Demonstration Core Area and jointly promoting scientific research and industrial development.

According to sources, the concentration of these aerospace high-tech projects in Beijing will provide 15,000 jobs opportunities.

According to the agreements, the two institutes will be in charge of building the Beijing Aerospace Industrial Park, and are expected to finish the first phase of the project by the end of 2012. It is estimated that the total investments in the park will reach 11.1 billion yuan by 2015, and the park will generate gross sales of up to 20 billion yuan.

The park will be divided into nine different areas, namely the Safe City and Emergency Facilities Area, Internet of Things Area, Numerical Control and Industrial Automation Area, Radar and Industrial Irradiation Facilities Area, Unmanned Vehicle Equipment Area, Power Equipment Area, Live Power Line Maintenance Facilities Area, Electromechanical Device Integrated Manufacturing Area, and Microwave Imaging Facilities and Energy-conservation Controller Area.

Aisino Corporation will focus on carrying out emerging industrialization projects including the digital city, radio-frequency identification (RFID), smart card, enterprise informalization, satellite application, and digital media projects in Haidian District, in hopes of using its technological advantages to promote the construction of the core area of the Zhongguancun National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone. The total investments on these projects will reach 1.5 billion to 2 billion yuan during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, and they are expected to bring in gross revenue of 5 billion to 7 billion yuan.

Beijing wants private investments in public housing
6 April 2011
Copyright 2011 China Daily Information Company. All Rights Reserved.

Beijing is seeking nongovernment capital to contribute 60 percent of the budget and may encourage it to fund the city's subsidized housing construction, media reported on April 2.

Beijing-based private enterprises may be allowed to build public rental housing on their own land, said Song Yu, vice-director of the municipal development and reform commission.

The municipal government will also broaden the investment fields for private capital funds. The proportion of the total budget that came from private investors rose from 43.2 percent in 2009 after the financial crisis hit the global economy to 57.9 percent in 2010. The city plans to increase that number to 60 percent of the budget this year, according to the report.

In addition, the municipal government will also encourage non-governmental investors to take part in some reconstruction projects, including the reconstruction of shiheyuan, media reported.

Beijing's vacancy rate keeps falling on huge demand.

After stronger than expected performance last
year, the latter half in particular, Beijing’s office
property market saw a further boom in 1Q11,
demonstrating signs of another prosperous
market cycle. The overall vacancy rate experienced
a dramatic decline of 9.61 percentage
points y-o-y, underpinned by demand from
both indigenous and overseas enterprises with
genuine business opportunity and consequent
headcount increment in the capital. On the other
hand, sustained landlord-favourable market
conditions combined with the increasing number
of tenants with adequate budget pushed rentals
to the highest ever level as of end-1Q11. The office
property investment market remained active
while capital values witnessed significant y-o-y
growth of more than 20% during the quarter.

[...]

Correspondingly, the overall
vacancy rate of Beijing’s office property market dropped by 2.75 percentage
points q-o-q, or 9.61 percentage points y-o-y, to 7.10% as of end-1Q11.
Meanwhile net absorption peaked at 492,905 sqm, with that in the CBD and
Lufthansa areas accounting for 44.70% and 21.91% of the total, respectively.

Charts inside
http://www.colliersinternational.com/Content/Repositories/Base/Markets/China/English/Market_Report/PDFs/The-Knowledge-Report-Office-BJ-1Q2011.pdf

0.5 million sqm absorbed during Q1. That's roughly half of the whole floor area of the WTC redevelopment, or 150% of Burj Khalifa's floor area. No wonder why Beijing must extend its current CBD asap, and those claiming Beijing is building too much office space are total idiots.

How far is this from the bird's nest?

Beijing underground street development has big potential
2 June 2011
Copyright 2011 China Daily Information Company. All Rights Reserved.

There is big room for Beijing to develop underground shopping center and the underground street will bring great business opportunities, said Shigetaka Sato, chairman of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI).

Sato, together with his delegation, visited Beijing from May 18 to 20 and exchanged opinions with Gou Zhongwen, vice mayor of Beijing, Yang Liuyin, secretary of Dongcheng District on the development of underground street. He also made an on-the-spot investigation of the situation in the development of underground street.

According to Sato, developing underground streets will improve the effective use of the land and ease congestion on the ground.

Sato said that underground street development requires a lot experiences and technologies, including the government's urban planning, regulation and standard, architectural technology, disaster management, attracting investment, management of the stores, etc. The government of Osaka and private companies have accumulated rich experiences in developing the underground streets and the underground shopping malls in Osaka are the first-class in the world.

Sato also said that in the future, Osaka is willing to cooperate with other Chinese cities such as Shanghai in the development of underground streets.

"The cooperation with Chinese companies to achieve development in both countries, or investment of Chinese companies in Osaka are increasing", said Sato.

Block A has topped out

http://ww1.sinaimg.cn/bmiddle/4679dbbfjw1di22a2x0fbj.jpg

photo from Pan's micro blog (SOHO developer)

Beijing SOHO III project U/C

renderings

video
http://you.video.sina.com.cn/api/sinawebApi/outplayrefer.php/vid=22717656_1182391231/s.swf

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/100225235540ddefd9fc982d27.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/1002252356fd8fd52e9ac78b92.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/1002252356232b2e103e85bc89.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/1002252357471cf280c1b810fc.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/1002252349adcade078743de91.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/100225234938d52eec2cf18870.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/1002252350f064a5deba083694.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/1002252350b832527023c10732.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/10022600113fb0bd71f8e69568.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/100225235246d13a75a38f0722.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/100225235463df044fbff7a2b7.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/1002252354a529d3780664004d.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/1002252355de1b7ce5e1f23fa7.jpg

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx216/davidwei01/1002252355897411766d2c4e4b.jpg

(from beijingupdates.com)

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=70606&extra=page%3D1

New SOHO project, 200m high....

How will this impact Beijing's urban planning going forward?

Population increases to be biggest worry for Beijing
08:46, July 19, 2011

China's think tanks called on Monday for stricter steps to be taken to control the capital's fast-increasing population and said population pressures are likely to become stronger in the next 20 years.

Population increases will be the biggest worry for Beijing administrators during the period covered by the municipality's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), according to the Annual Report on Analysis of Beijing Society-Building, also known as the Blue Book of Society Building, which was published by the Social Sciences Academic Press on Monday.

Since 2000, the population of the capital has increased by 700,000 residents a year on average.

That is putting strains on the economic, social and environmental resources of Beijing, the report said.

About 61.5 percent of Beijing residents live in six districts in the city's center, where the population density is at 7,837 persons for each square kilometer, according to the report.

Beijing's population density has surpassed London's - at 5,437 persons for each sq km - and Tokyo's - at 5,984 persons for each sq km.

By 2011, 40 percent of the Beijing population consisted of migrant workers who had been officially registered with the municipal government.

In a move to reduce the population pressure on the city, a series of strict limits are expected to be placed on new residents who are considered to be part of the "floating", or migrant, population.

For example, fewer university graduates in 2011 will get Beijing hukou, an official residence permit. The capital plans to only encourage those who have diplomas in fields deemed important to economic development to remain after graduation.

"High housing prices and increasing rental costs have automatically squeezed us out," said Li Yurong, a graduate from Hubei province who was looking for a job that would provide him a Beijing hukou.

"And we couldn't enjoy many public services without having a Beijing hukou."

He said the slogan, "Beijing welcomes you!", which was used during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, is close to becoming ironic for many like him.

"In a move to reduce population pressures, Beijing should get 'low-end industries' and 'low-end workers' to leave the city," said Yin Zhigang, deputy director of the Beijing Administrative College's Beijing population and development research center.

"Some private universities, some hospitals (specially hospitals specializing in treating infectious diseases) and some official departments should also leave the capital," he said.

"Beijing hasn't set a concrete limit on what the population can increase to during the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan because the city failed to meet a previous plan's goal to keep the population within 18 million before 2020," said Liu Jinwei, a researcher with the Beijing University of Technology and the writer of the report.

He called on administrators to adopt policies that treat the floating population more humanely and to reduce population pressures by moving some industries into places around Beijing.

Source: China Daily

About 61.5 percent of Beijing residents live in six districts in the city's center, where the population density is at 7,837 persons for each square kilometer, according to the report.

Beijing's population density has surpassed London's - at 5,437 persons for each sq km - and Tokyo's - at 5,984 persons for each sq km.


Higher population density than Tokyo!?! Can someone confirm this?

Higher population density than Tokyo!?! Can someone confirm this?

Tokyo is actually not that dense as they have far fewer skyscraper residentials. In fact, there are plenty of low- and mid-rises with quiet alley neighbourhoods. Sometimes it's hard to believe 30 million people live in the bay area.

Beijing to establish 'tide lanes' to alleviate traffic jams
16:19, July 22, 2011
People's Daily

In order to alleviate the "tide phenomenon" traffic jams caused by too many vehicles entering Beijing in the morning and exiting from Beijing in the evening, Beijing will study the feasibility of establishing "tide lanes" in major arteries for vehicles entering and exiting from Beijing.

Afterward, the driving direction of the vehicles in the lanes of the major roads could be controlled and the signal lights could also adjust the number of lanes so that the efficiency of the roads would be improved.

In the 26th session of the 13th Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress of Beijing held on the morning of July 21, Liu Xiaoming, director of the Municipal Transportation Committee, made a report on the further work planned for alleviating traffic jams.

Liu said that Beijing will prioritize perfecting the signal system of the driveway stations among the next round of actions and will study the feasibility of setting tide driveways in the major radiating roads for vehicles entering and exiting from Beijing.

"Tidal flow lanes" to ease traffic pressure in Beijing

"Tidal flow lanes" refer to control the run direction of main lanes in conditional roads through changing the giving directions of traffic lights to adjust the number of lanes and increase the service efficiency of lanes in accordance with different situations of traffic flow in morning and evening.

For example, as there is relatively high traffic flow to downtown in the morning, related departments can ease the traffic pressure through increasing the number of lanes downtown and adopt the reverse lane deployment in the evening peak.

The so-called "traffic tidal phenomenon" refers to the traffic phenomenon of high traffic flow to downtown and low traffic flow to suburb every morning, and high traffic flow to suburb and low traffic flow to downtown every evening.

Samsung will develop a 260m, 57 floor tower close to the CCTV Headquarters. We should open a thread as soon as they release a render.
http://office.focus.cn/news/2011-07-14/1384972.html
http://www.jingoffice.com/news/4766.html

Relocation reform to benefit homeowners
Updated: 2011-07-04 06:58
By Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)

Beijing - The government can only ask Beijing residents, whose houses are designated to be demolished, to move out after paying them satisfactory compensation, according to a notice issued on Saturday by the Beijing municipal government.

The notice is a guide on how the Beijing government will implement a new regulation on urban home demolitions that was approved by the State Council in January. The regulation is designed to better protect homeowners' rights and to end forced relocations by governments.

The previous regulation, now abolished, authorized the government to enforce relocations without asking for court rulings, which led to some people who disagreed about the amount of compensation being forced to move out. Some had to move out before they received any payment.

Chen Zhi, deputy secretary-general of Beijing Real Estate Association, said its research showed that many construction enterprises used to cheat residents by promising them good compensation but refusing to pay after they had moved out.

"By stipulating strict procedures, this decision by the Beijing government will guarantee homeowners' rights," he said.

The guide also stipulates that only the government has the right to discuss compensation deals with residents and finally confiscate their houses, a process in which construction enterprises and real estate companies have no right to participate.

The Beijing government must discuss compensation with residents and together they must choose a real estate evaluation institute to estimate the worth of their property, which, according to the regulation, should not be below market price. If no agreement can be achieved, the government will pick an institute through a lottery.

"I see this as an improvement as it lets residents have a say in choosing institutes, and a qualified institute is crucial to making a fair property evaluation," said Wang Xixin, a law professor at Peking University.

"However, transparency during that process, including the lottery, is very important to ensure it is not just a show case."

After a compensation plan is made, residents will be given a 30-day notice, during which they have the right to suggest revisions to the plan. Those who disagree with a final plan can ask for an administrative re-ruling or sue.

The court has the right to force a relocation if a resident who disagrees with the compensation refuses to move and doesn't ask for a re-ruling or file a lawsuit.

Housing demolitions have aroused heated discussion in China, especially since the revision of the previous demolition regulation at the end of 2009, after five law professors wrote an open letter to the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, urging reform.

A series of shocking tragedies in which people killed themselves during forced relocations had captivated public attention.

One person died and another two were injured when three members of a family surnamed Zhong doused themselves in gasoline and set themselves ablaze to protest against a forced demolition in Yihuang, Jiangxi province, on Sept 10, 2010.

Tang Fuzhen, 47, a resident of Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, died in 2009 after setting herself on fire to protest against the forced demolition of her house.

Beijing uses trees to hold back encroaching sands
People's Daily Online
10:46, August 08, 2011

Beijing has afforested nearly 3,700 square kilometers of land in its northern suburb counties over a 10-year period, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry.

The construction of a 200-kilometer forest belt has been completed surrounding Beijing and Tianjin, which will act as the front line of defense for sand storms and dust.

Under the Beijing and Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Planning, the shelter belt will cover Beijing's six suburban districts and counties: Changping, Mentougou, Huairou, Pinggu, Miyun and Yanqing.

The shelter forest will mainly combat local winds carrying sand from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shanxi and Hebei provinces and also aims at local sandstorm source control.

Historic achievements have been made in the past 10 years: Comprehensive treatments were carried out on 439 square kilometers of grasslands and a 2,010-square-kilometer small watershed was achieved. More than 4,700 water-saving irrigation and water resources projects have been completed and nearly 12,500 people relocated, said Gan Ging, deputy director of Beijing Capital Greening Commission.

The planning has greatly improved the local environment. Figures from the bureau show that the Beijing urban greening rate and forest cover rate are 71.35 percent and 51.75 percent, respectively, and increase of 14 percent and 10 percent over year 2000 figures. The accumulated days for air quality level II and above have hit a 10-year-record high of 286 days, accounting for 78.4 percent of the whole year.

Forestry has also become an important approach to enriching farmers. According to the bureau's statistics, the planning has brought a tourism income of 9 billion yuan and an annual 14.9 percent increase in peasants' income to 10,971 yuan.

China to construct museum highlighting history of overseas Chinese

BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Construction of a planned museum that will highlight the history of overseas Chinese will kick off in downtown Beijing in September, according to the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese.

The building will be constructed near Dongzhimen in Dongcheng District with a projected cost of 220 million yuan (about 34.36 million U.S. dollars), which will be mainly-funded by the government, said Qiao Wei, vice chairman of the federation, at a press conference Friday.

Qiao said the news of the inception of the museum's construction, for which the proposal was first raised by Chen Jiageng, a famous overseas Chinese leader, in 1960, has been met with active responses from overseas Chinese.

Nearly 5,000 people have volunteered to donate to the project so far, and among the donations are more than 10,000 antique items for the museum, Qiao said.

The museum will serve not only as a new base for patriotic education, but also a window for overseas Chinese to express their feelings and cultural identity towards the motherland, Qiao said.

Currently there are around 10 museums, exhibition halls and memorial halls on overseas Chinese across China.

Expo Special: Beijing eco-friendly area now in the limelight
Updated: 2011-08-26 08:02
China Daily

Beijing will be starting its 9th China International Garden Expo, in the Fengtai district, in April 2013, with the emphasis on developing a friendly environment and resource-balanced approach to life, the organizers have said.

This biennial event first began in 1997 under the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development sponsorship in cooperation with local governments and has grown into an important international gathering of people in the gardening industry. It will run from April 2013 to October 2013.

This year's expo will be in the municipality of Chongqing in September. Previous sessions have been held in the cities of Dalian (the first), Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen, and Jinan.

Thanks to Beijing's 40 prominent parks and 300 temples it won the bid for the 2013 expo two years ago, in December 2009.

The expo venue, in the southern part of the capital, near the Yongding River, is a key part of the government's restoration and development program and eco-friendly system around the river. The 267-hectare expo site is near the historic Lugou Bridge.

Construction work has begun and is expected to be finished by the end of next year. Some of its major elements are the following:

Garden Museum

The expo will contain the first national garden museum, with an area of about 6.5 hectares.

The China Garden Museum will use various high-tech methods to give a panoramic view of landscape gardening and the industry's achievements in China.

Exhibition Hall

The main exhibition hall has a planned area of 3.2 hectares and will describe the art of landscaping and leading technologies, new materials, and the most recent achievements.

It will also be the site of forums, seminars, business meetings and cultural shows on landscaping, the organizers have said.

Yongding Tower

The tower is another must-see item on the expo's itinerary. It is being built on Yingshan Mountain, on the expo site, as a museum at the centering of a group of other towers.

Planning Center

The west bank of the river will have an 8,000-square-meter center with the overall design of the expo and the new, eco-friendly Yongding River region.

The region is expected to be an ideal combination of traditional landscaping and modern high-tech development and a new attraction in Beijing when the expo site is unveiled in 2013.

^^
This has nothing to do with Beijing.

Dont blame him, there's still alot of people in this world who still believes that Shanghai is a city in Japan, for instance. :P

CBD fest to mark start of core project
Updated: 2011-09-14 13:46

By An Baijie (China Daily)

BEIJING - Work to build the core area of the capital's central business district (CBD), which includes 18 new low-carbon buildings, will start on Thursday, a city official has announced.

"Preparation for the design and demolition, which started in March last year, has finished," Wu Guiying, Chaoyang district's executive deputy governor, said on Sept 13. "Construction on the (30-hectare zone) should be completed in 2015."

Wu, who is also director of the CBD administrative committee, was speaking at a news conference ahead of the 11th annual CBD Business Festival on Sept 15.

When finished, the zone will be home to the headquarters of 27 companies, including China Minsheng Bank and China Investment Corp, while it is also expected to attract investment of 100 billion yuan ($15.6 billion), with annual tax revenue of more than 50 billion yuan.

A total of 18 new buildings will be built, with companies set to sign low-carbon pledges on Thursday to show their determination to saving energy, land, water and other resources.

"Our goal is to save 65 percent of energy in the construction and maintenance of the buildings," Wu said. "Companies working in the zone should also be from low-carbon emission industries, such as finance and insurance, and be regional headquarters of international companies."
One of the green structures will be Beijing's latest skyscraper, a 510-meter office tower owned by CITIC Group that will have 104 floors above ground and four basement levels.

The final design for the core area, chosen from 203 options provided by 60 domestic and overseas agencies, will be unveiled during the festival, Wu said.

Work on the underground section, which will go down five levels and connect all 18 buildings, has already started. The project includes parking lots and emergency escape routes and will cost 4 billion yuan.

"People can drive underground from one building to another after the construction, which will definitely alleviate traffic above ground," Wu said.

An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people will work in the core area, with 85 percent expected to commute using public transport, he said.

More than 180,000 people already work for about 15,000 companies in the CBD, making traffic congestion a pressing issue. Three new subway lines and three new bus stations will be built in the zone by 2015, Beijing Youth Daily reported. The west-to-east Line 6 will be put into use next year.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2011-09/14/content_13685191.htm

really great architecture in Beijing, i would love to go visit one day :)

I can't wait to see the master plan!!!

I can't wait to see the master plan!!!

Actually there is already a final masterplan by SOM:

http://www.som.com/content.cfm/pr_som_wins_beijing_cbd_urban_planning_competition

http://www.som.com/content.cfm/beijing_cbd_east_expansion_competition

I thought Terry Farrell's plan had won? I prefer their design for the main tower.

I thought Terry Farrell's plan had won? I prefer their design for the main tower.

No, SOM plan won. But it's just a masterplan, so the designs for the towers aren't final.

Doesn't China take the SOM plan and make adjustments to it? Like the Shanghai expo, it was a fusion of three or four designs.

Yeah, designs aren't final, thank goodness. Some of the designs in SOM's plan are pretty average for the location they belong to

The SOM plan is for another part of the CBD. Beijing is going to have a huge skyline in the future!

Spiral Garden Museum in Taiwan by French Architecture Firm Influx_Studio

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral01.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral02.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral03.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral04.jpg

http://www.plataformaarquitectura.cl/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/1314571751-spiral05.jpg

http://www.bobd.cn/design/UploadFiles1008/201108/2011082610115558.bmp

http://www.bobd.cn/design/UploadFiles1008/201108/2011082610122773.bmp

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral08.gif

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral09.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral10.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral11.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral12.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral13.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral14.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral15.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral16.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral17.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral18.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/erica/814/spiral19.jpg

International architecture projects have a modern history of being incredibly competitive. Although the industry in entirety has a competitive edge, architecture is the stand out sector in terms of intensive contest. Not only does it offer a wide range of different initiatives being developed, but pushes the boundaries of traditional architecture...

Read the full article at http://designbuildsource.com.au/french-architecture-spirals-win
that is really so unique and fascinating!

Phoenix International Media Center

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900406-construction01-528x351.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900741-rendering01-528x313.jpg

(for more render and construction pics for this project see the source link below)

Location: Beijing
Architects: BIAD UFo
Client: Phoenix Satellite Television
Project Year: 2009-2012
Project Area: 64973 sqm
Photographs: Courtesy of BIAD UFo

Phoenix International Media Center locates in the southwest corner of Chaoyang Park; the site area is 1.8 hectares. The total floor area of the building is 65,000m2 with a height of 55m. Apart from the media office, the broadcasting studios and the production offices, the building provides abundant of open spaces for the public to get interactive experiences, which expresses the unique operation concept of Phoenix Media. The logic of the design concept is to create an ecological environment shell embraces the Individual functional spaces as a building-in-building concept. The two independent office towers under the shell generate many shared public spaces. In the east and west parts of the shared spaces, there are continuous steps, landscape platforms, sky ramps and crossing escalators which fill the building of energetic and dynamic spaces. Furthermore, the building’s sculptural shape originates from the “Mobius Strip”. The sculptural shape provides the building a harmony relationship with the irregular direction of the existing streets, the sitting corner of the site, and the Chaoyang Park.

Source: http://www.archdaily.com/165746/in-progress-phoenix-international-media-center-biad-ufo/

^^

Amazing project!

Here is a link to article with some more latest photos.

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/16042/biad-ufo-phoenix-international-media-center.html

Can someone identify the following Beijing CBD projects?

The foundation east of CCTV tower.
from www.gaoloumi.com

Photo by Mori

http://pic.qnpic.com:83/r.jsp?fn=//fanjoin/share/2011/9/18/23.jpg


Posted by OntheBund on August 17th, 2011

http://club.metrofans.sh.cn/data/attachment/forum/201107/02/231931ey0ae3g1nz5o0bdw.jpg


This is old image from Google Maps. But the bottom left project is also progressing quiet well. The right side plot is the same as image above which is recent.

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/8026/beijingprojects.jpg

Beijing's housing sales down 12% in Jan-Sept
Updated: 2011-10-25 10:13
Xinhua

BEIJING -- Commercial housing sales in Beijing fell 12 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of the year, a sign that the red-hot property market has begun to cool down, the municipal statistics bureau said Monday.

The total area of commercial housing sold slumped to 6.32 million square meters during the January-September period, the Beijing statistics bureau said in a news release.

Prices of new homes in the city have shown zero month-on-month growth for four straight months, while prices of pre-owned homes fell 0.4 percent month-on-month in September, according to the National Statistics Bureau.

The slump has been attributed to the government's tightening measures, which include higher mortgage rates, a ban on third-home mortgage loans and purchase restrictions.

However, sales of affordable housing for low-income earners jumped to 1.98 million square meters during the January-September period, up 120 percent year-on-year, the press release said.

Construction began on 13.75 million square meters of affordable housing during the nine-month period, up 470 percent year-on-year, as the city government has been building more such housing to help tame high housing prices.

OMA (http://oma.eu/index.php?option=com_projects&view=portal&id=1324&Itemid=10)'s design of the new National Art Museum of China.

http://oma.eu//images/photocache/stories/NAMOC/110322%20namoc%20booklet%20spreds%20no%20text11_72_560x374x90.jpg

http://oma.eu//images/photocache/stories/NAMOC/110322%20namoc%20booklet%20spreds%20no%20text6_72_560x374x90.jpg

http://oma.eu//images/photocache/stories/NAMOC/v_int2_%20110118_72_560x374x90.jpg

http://oma.eu//images/photocache/stories/NAMOC/1f%20plan_72_560x374x90.jpg

UN Studio's design for the new National Art Museum of China. This is their proposal in an ongoing competition for the site.

Description by UN Studio (http://www.unstudio.com/projects/the-national-art-museum-of-china)
The architectural concept in the design for the NAMOC is based on uniting dualities; past and future, day and night, inside and outside, calm and
dynamic, large and small, individual and collective. The two volumes of the building reference ancient Chinese 'stone drums', large drum-shaped
stones bearing inscriptions in ancient Chinese. The exteriors of the two volumes are illuminated by art projections, creating a vast media facade as
a contemporary translation of the ancient stone drum inscriptions.

Whilst the architecture of the museum is represented by the ancient artifact of the stone drum, the art within represents its spirit, or its “essence”.
In the same way that the agile strokes of ink in a Chinese painting give spirit to a blank piece of paper, the art collection gives spirit to the museum.
The main focus of the design is to create optimal and varied spaces for the display of art; Spaces of different character, but all offering extensive
lighting possibilities and ample wall space in order to provide artists and curators with the optimal conditions in which to display their work and
communicate their ideas.

The design further incorporates high levels of circulation space, with the internal organisation divided into different routes, each guiding the varying
visitor groups around themed sequences of art and additional programmes. The NAMOC is strongly embedded within its cultural and urban context.
The public urban plinth plateaus of the cultural district act as 24/7 connectors and attractors between the levels of the street, the underground,
and the museum volumes.

View the renderings in high resolution (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=85051240#post85051240)

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/7380/nationalartmuseumofchin.jpg
Illustration by UN Studio (http://www.unstudio.com/)

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/7380/nationalartmuseumofchin.jpg
Illustration by MIR (http://mir.no/)

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/7380/nationalartmuseumofchin.jpg
Illustration by MIR (http://mir.no/)

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/7380/nationalartmuseumofchin.jpg
Illustration by MIR (http://mir.no/)

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7380/nationalartmuseumofchin.jpg
Illustration by MIR (http://mir.no/)

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/7380/nationalartmuseumofchin.jpg
Illustration by MIR (http://mir.no/)

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/7380/nationalartmuseumofchin.jpg
Illustration by MIR (http://mir.no/)

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8963/nationalartmuseumofchinz.jpg
Illustration by MIR (http://mir.no/)

KDjuRVAZnCY

Schmidt Hammer Lassen's design for The Danish University Centre in Beijing. This is a competition entry (proposal). The competition status is
as of now ongoing.


Description by Schmidt Hammer Lassen (http://shl.dk/eng/#/home/about-architecture/education/the-house-of-the-danish-industry-foundation/description)
The creation of a Danish university building in China as a beacon for Danish architecture, research and technology is an example of how respect,
openness and quality expressed by architecture can contribute to cultural understanding and exchange. The building is designed as a meeting
place for a diversity of cultures, users, and functions and it expresses this interaction through a simple yet dynamic architecture.

The 8000 m² Danish university building is situated on a newly established university campus outside central Beijing. The red brick of the building’s
exterior gives kinship to the rest of the campus while large glazed facades and green terraces provide poetic contrast and character.

The idea behind the design of the building is simple but creates an informal architecture full of expression and tension. Like bricks in production
are stacked by twisting each layer to stabilize the pile, boxes are stacked with spaces in between each level, creating an atrium building with a
maximum of contact and synergy between the functions. On the outside, the rotation of boxes creates a row of green terraces or shelves to
enjoy at leisure. The stack of boxes is slightly tilted towards the south and west to provide solar shading on the facade facing in those
directions.

The building is organized in order for the more public functions to greet the visitor on the ground level and to turn increasingly private as you
ascend. It creates an exciting environment for students, researchers and companies where architecture supports cross-disciplinary learning and
contributes to informal surroundings for open learning. The students will experience an inspiring and open environment where they can take part
in the active life unfolding in and around the atrium or retreat to quiet corners facing the terraces for peaceful studytime.

The building is designed to be robust and sustainable in terms of energy consumption by means of a pragmatic approach to technique, materials
and detailing. Natural ventilation during the night will cool down the thermal mass of the heavy brick boxes and thus diminish the need for
mechanical ventilation during the daytime. The rooftop produces energy by means of solar cells.

View the renderings in high resolution (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=85199061#post85199061)

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/2514/danishuniversityinbeiji.jpg
Illustration by Schmidt Hammer Lassen (http://shl.dk/)

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/2514/danishuniversityinbeiji.jpg
Illustration by Schmidt Hammer Lassen (http://shl.dk/)

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/2514/danishuniversityinbeiji.jpg
Illustration by Schmidt Hammer Lassen (http://shl.dk/)

every project is wonderul!! :D

Chinese developers bid farewell to autumn sales blitz amid tightening measures

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese developers used to proudly describe their brisk autumn housing sales as "golden September and silver October." This year's autumn sales, however, were all but satisfactory as a result of the government's tightening measures, which were implemented earlier this year to cool down the property market.

Analysts said that developers will encounter increasingly severe capital shortages in light of poor sales volumes and lower prices during the autumn sales season.

Housing sales in Beijing from Oct. 1 to Oct. 30 totaled 12,099 units, representing a plunge of around 40 percent from the same period last year, according to data from the website of Beijing Real Estate Transaction Management. The data is published by the city's housing authority.

The Beijing Centaline Property Agency Company forecasted that Beijing's total housing sales in September and October will be around 27,000 units, down 46 percent from a year earlier.

Sales in other major cities have also plummeted.

Last month, sales of new homes in Shanghai were nearly halved in comparison to a year ago, while sales in Shenzhen dropped about 65 percent year-on-year, according to a report released on Monday by the China Index Academy, a leading property research center.

Hu Jinghui, a senior real estate expert with B.A. Consulting, told Xinhua that sales volumes have always changed sooner than prices, judging from past performances.

"The drop in sales volume is a process that must take place before there can be any substantial price cuts in cities with runaway housing prices," Hu said.

Sparch unveils plans for large urban shopping mall in north west Beijing

With rapid economic growth, Beijing city has become increasingly crowded in the last few years, encouraging urban migration to suburban satellite towns located around the capital. Where satellite towns are commonly viewed as mere commuters' hubs with little retail activity, the client seeks to provide richer entertainment experiences for the residents.

Vanke Super City is a 100,000 sq m shopping mall located in the satellite town of Changping that lies 50 km north of the Forbidden City. Sparch is given an opportunity to rethink the conventional mould of a ubiquitous shopping mall; in the typical mall where entertainment and F & B is located at the top levels, customers patronising these shops would have to navigate difficult journeys through darkened shopping spaces and secondary exits after standard shopping hours.

So Sparch proposes a win-win design solution for Vanke Super City's shoppers and retailers, by introducing two separate retail circulation routes - a 12-hour daytime route and a 24-hour route. The design incorporates the daytime retail programs - shops and department stores - into the mall typology with an interwoven 12-hour route forming the mass of the podium architecture.

Circulation routes and terraces are carved out of the podium, facilitating access to the elevated rooftop courtyard, around which interlocking boxes create a visually dynamic entertainment destination containing the 24-hour functions (e.g. cinemas, KTV, restaurants).

When the daytime retail functions have closed for the day, customers are provided with an alternate outdoor animated route lined with shops and terraces snaking along the podium façade (24-hour route). This increases the extent of shop frontage along the streetscape and generates valuable visual connections.
In the spirit of Archigram's ‘Moving Cities' and Rogers and Piano's Pompidou Centre, the outdoor escalators along the façade express movement and energy. The façades of Vanke Super City are articulated using a varied palette of materials in layered bands reminiscent of folded geological plates.

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/18077_1_Vanke_Super_City__Main_Image.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/18077_2_Vanke_Super_City_Additional_01.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/18077_5_Vanke_Super_City_Additional_04.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/18077_6_Vanke_Super_City_Additional_05.jpg

do anyone watch CNBC about the garbage problem in beijing? according to the reporter Beijing is producing 15,000 ton of garbage a day,and may runiing out of land fill.
other large cities in china may facing similiar problem.

Lack of enforcement lets dust fly at Beijing
Updated: 2011-11-22 07:59
China Daily

BEIJING - A lax enforcement of the law has allowed more construction dust than usual to pollute the city's air, an environmental watchdog said on Monday.

The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said that has been in part responsible for the hazy days that have roused the public to anger in the past month.

On Friday, the bureau issued a warning to 17 construction sites that had failed to bring their release of construction dust under control, asking them to eliminate the violations in three days.

The bureau conducted an inspection of several of the sites on Monday and found that none of them had complied with its orders.

Zhao Chengyi, an official with the environmental protection bureau, said the bureau does not have the right to enforce laws, only to supervise what takes place at construction sites.

"Without the right to punish the wrongdoings at these construction sites, we can do nothing but issue warning after warning," Zhao said. "This has become a long-standing problem."

Zhao's remarks followed complaints about the bureau's alleged failure to take steps to improve the city's air quality in response to the heavy fog that shrouded the capital for several days this past month.

Six years ago, a reorganization of government departments gave the Beijing Municipal Bureau of City Administration and Law Enforcement and Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development the right to enforce environmental protection laws.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said on Monday that it is working harder to crack down on releases of construction dust.

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of City Administration and Law Enforcement released no comment on Monday.

In Beijing, more than 5,000 construction sites covering 150 million square meters of space release about 40 percent of the particles in the city's air. They, along with auto exhaust, coal emissions and industrial pollution, are the chief causes of air pollution in Beijing, according to Fang Li, deputy director of the environmental protection bureau.

"If the dust at the construction sites is not well controlled or the dust on the ground is not hardened, it can be easily blown into the air and increase the particle concentration," Fang said. "It's especially hazardous to people's health on dry winter days."

According to Wang Xiaoming, another official with the environmental protection bureau, fighting construction dust is one of the bureau's priorities.

"We're paying attention to the dust pollution created by construction in residential areas, downtown and at some large construction sites in the capital," Wang said. "Those companies all know the regulations, but they simply don't follow them."

Some think the pursuit of profits is driving their actions.

"To have the roads hardened at this construction site, which covers about 1,000 square meters, we need to invest at least 300,000 yuan ($47,000), which is a lot," said a staff worker at Haohai Construction Group, which is building the second phase of the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park. The staff worker declined to give his full name.

The project, designed as an incubator for high-tech businesses, has released large amounts of dust and the company has been the subject of many warnings from the environmental protection bureau. The bureau's inspection on Monday found that no improvements had been made to the site.

A company that does not clean up construction dust will be fined 20,000 yuan at the most, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of City Administration and Law Enforcement.

The environmental protection bureau is now asking the public to help it supervise construction sites. A reward of up to 300 yuan will go to those who report large cases of dust pollution.

"We want to fully mobilize the public," said Li Hua, head of the bureau's environmental protection monitoring team.

http://inhabitat.com/beijings-massive-national-hotel-will-house-a-107000-square-foot-indoor-rainforest/emergent-monstrous-beijing-national-hotel-with-rainforest-3/?extend=1

Anyone ever heared of this? It is called Beijing National Hotel and is located close to the airport....

Beijing Phoenix International Media Center (Hong Kong Based Phoenix TV's new headquater in Beijing).
The Building locates in the southwest corner of Chaoyang Park, Chaoyang District.

From archdaily.com (http://www.archdaily.com/165746/in-progress-phoenix-international-media-center-biad-ufo/)

Design Concept

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314901495-p-concept01-1000x529.jpg

Plans

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900333-011st-floor-plan-1000x707.jpg
http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314901452-022nd-floor-plan-1000x707.jpg
http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314901467-0310th-floor-plan-1000x707.jpg

Section

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314901486-04section-1000x708.jpg

3D Renderings
http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900741-rendering01-1000x592.jpg
http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900750-rendering02-1000x700.jpg
http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900765-rendering03-1000x672.jpg


Google Earth Image

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900785-site-1000x758.jpg

Prefabricating Steelworks in factory

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900527-construction11-1000x664.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900514-construction10-1000x664.jpg


Under Construction
http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900406-construction01-1000x666.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900490-construction08-1000x666.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900431-construction04-1000x750.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900719-img-2559-1000x750.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900539-construction12-1000x750.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900475-construction07-1000x666.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900506-construction09-1000x666.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900417-construction03-1000x664.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900569-construction14-1000x750.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1314900702-construction15-1000x666.jpg

Holy! Amazing! Love the effect of the curves.

Wonderful design!

From archdaily.com (http://www.archdaily.com/144281/wangfujing-mixed-use-center-latitude-studio-with-biad/)

Beijing Wangfujing Mixed-Use Center by Latitude Studio with BIAD

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/1308192890-ls-area-1000x746.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/1308192925-ls-sketch-0-980x1000.jpg

http://cdn.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/1308192939-ls-sketch-2-1000x719.jpg

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The render image is a bit wrong by putting shanghai's the bund as background:lol:
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Roof
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Exorbitant land costs burden developers

BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- A popular saying is echoing in Beijing as property tycoons enter a weak spell: "It is mostly an appalling death for real estate developers to be stuffed (with land), but not hungry."

Plots of land in Beijing and other major Chinese cities have been bought at record-high prices, but have become a burden for struggling developers.

On March 15, 2010, the final auctions of three plots of land in Beijing hit 11.08 billion yuan (about 1.75 billion U.S. dollars). Just about one month after the sky-high bidding commenced, China imposed a raft of measures aiming to cool property prices in April 2010.

The government has repeatedly stressed its efforts to contain the runaway property market, including tighter monetary policies, higher down payments, a ban on third-home purchases, price control targets and a trial property tax.

Under the government's strict tightening control policies, the development pattern of China's real estate industry is expected to be more reasonable and rational under the guidance of the government, insiders said.

RE-SOLD, BUT STILL UNTOUCHED

Left untouched for nearly two years, the 104,537-square-meter Dongsheng township residential and commercial property, one of the three plots of land sold at record-high prices, was covered by weeds and light snow in early December this year.

The World Expo Hongye Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. won the plot with a bid of 1.76 billion yuan in 2010.

"We paid such a huge sum just hoping to create a high-end real estate project," Wang Dan, the development company's vice president, said after winning the bidding war on the massive urban plot.

The exorbitant winning bid means that the prices of apartments built on the plot will have to factor in about 30,000 yuan per square meter just to cover land costs, a reality that shocked many other property tycoons at the auction.

Fortunately for its initial buyer, Poly Real Estate Group, China's second-largest listed developer, said in a statement in August that it had "gained the Dongsheng plot project through 100-percent equity acquisition from the World Expo Hongye Real Estate Development Co., Ltd."

In the real estate industry, the piece of land always decides the fate of the developer, and land price can sometimes be the straw that breaks the camel's back, said Zhang Dawei, an analyst with Beijing-based Centaline Property.

Compared to most property projects, these plots of land sold at record-high numbers require more capital and are an even heavier burden for the developer, he said.

SLOW START, COLD SALES

Crazy land prices are not always followed by crazy sales. Another two costly pieces of land sold the same day as the Dongsheng plot are encountering their own difficulties, such as slow construction or cold sales.

"It is hard to say when it will go to market and harder to predict the sale price," said a saleswoman for the 4.08-billion-yuan unfinished housing project in the Wangjing area of Beijing.

Nearly two years after the bidding, only two huge pits have been dug for its foundation. And its developer, a company affiliated with real estate giant Sino-Ocean Land, has pushed the date for it to hit the market from 2011 to 2012.

The exorbitantly-priced plots are now major burdens for developers whose profit margins have been extremely compressed by declining housing prices, said Zhang, adding that, in some cases, the land price alone equals the price of newly-built apartments for sale nearby.

Meanwhile, the land for the Daxing Yizhuang residential and commercial project (X1-1B) might be the fastest mover of the three wildly expensive plots.

It was purchased by CITIC (China International Trust and Investment Corp) Real Estate for 5.24 billion yuan, a record-setting figure for a single piece of land in Beijing.

As of Nov. 30, only 89 units, or about one-quarter of the total volume, had been sold, and that income is still far from covering the cost of the land.

"Cutting the land cost and other expenses, the project is now something of a 'chicken rib' and of little interest to developers," Zhang said, adding that some real estate companies are "reaping the harvest of their own misdeeds."

GOVERNMENT WORKS TO COOL PRICES

China's residential housing prices dropped for the third consecutive month in November amid government tightening efforts designed to cool the market, said a report released by the China Real Estate Index System on Dec. 1.

The average price in 10 first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, fell 0.36 percent month-on-month to 15,663 yuan per square meter from October to November.

The Chinese government has repeatedly pledged to continue these market curbs until housing prices reach a "reasonable" level, said Chen Liang, director of the market research department of 5i5j Real Estate Service Company in Beijing.

The only way out for the developers of these pieces of expensive land is to readjust product positioning and institute a reasonable pricing policy, Chen said.

"Dropping the housing price is a must, and will be effective in easing increasing financial pressure," he added.

This is getting a bit absurd :
'English only' town planned in Beijing
Updated: 2011-12-15 17:36
China Daily (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/china/2011-12/15/content_14273035.htm)

A tourist town that allows people to speak only English will be built in Miyun county, northeast Beijing, the Beijing News reported.

The town will try to attract English lovers in China and provide a "best place to practice English," said Wang Haichen, head of the county.

The "English only" town will have a European architectural style and contain 16 blocks, he said. Each tourist will get a passport before entering the town, and speaking Chinese will lead to point deductions on the passport.

"The idea is to avoid competition with other European-style towns at home," Wang said. The construction of the town is expected to take five years.

This is getting a bit absurd :
'English only' town planned in Beijing
Updated: 2011-12-15 17:36
China Daily (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/china/2011-12/15/content_14273035.htm)

A tourist town that allows people to speak only English will be built in Miyun county, northeast Beijing, the Beijing News reported.

The town will try to attract English lovers in China and provide a "best place to practice English," said Wang Haichen, head of the county.

The "English only" town will have a European architectural style and contain 16 blocks, he said. Each tourist will get a passport before entering the town, and speaking Chinese will lead to point deductions on the passport.

"The idea is to avoid competition with other European-style towns at home," Wang said. The construction of the town is expected to take five years.
Will they be allowed to use Facebook inside there too?

Will they be allowed to use Facebook inside there too?

It's unlikely.

They wouldn't want to risk a repeat of the London riots earlier last year, which were planned on Facebook/Twitter/Blackberry.

sweet Beijing!

This is getting a bit absurd :
'English only' town planned in Beijing
Updated: 2011-12-15 17:36
China Daily (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/china/2011-12/15/content_14273035.htm)

A tourist town that allows people to speak only English will be built in Miyun county, northeast Beijing, the Beijing News reported.

The town will try to attract English lovers in China and provide a "best place to practice English," said Wang Haichen, head of the county.

The "English only" town will have a European architectural style and contain 16 blocks, he said. Each tourist will get a passport before entering the town, and speaking Chinese will lead to point deductions on the passport.

"The idea is to avoid competition with other European-style towns at home," Wang said. The construction of the town is expected to take five years.

Absurd indeed...*sigh*

Absurd indeed...*sigh*

samsung of korea also has english language only,but this is corporation..

Beijing should be ashamed of itself for promoting such a project. It's amazing these countries are promoting a language that has nothing at all to do with the country in such a drastic manner, and if you go to an English language speaking country they couldn't speak a second language if their life depended on it.

Are they providing eye pins to westernize your eyes too?

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2011-12/16/131311240_11n.jpg

Photo taken on Dec. 16, 2011 shows a project of public rental housing under construction in Beijing, capital of China. The public rental housing project in Shijingshan District of Beijing was topped off on Friday. As the largest public rental housing project in Beijing now, it covers a construction area of 155,289 square meters and provides 2436 housing units. (Xinhua/Luo Xiaoguang)

Beijing Galaxy SOHO construction update

from www.beijingupdates.com (http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=46766&extra=page%3D1&page=8)

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More than buildings
China Daily
13:58, December 27, 2011

Beijing will strive to become a world-class cultural center by the year 2020.

As the capital, the city has never lacked the capacity to erect symbolic structures, but buildings alone do not make a cultural center.

Yet what is particularly noteworthy about the proposal is the construction projects involved, such as the restoration of the ancient wall towers at the southeastern and southwestern corners of the old outer city wall. Dongcheng district government will also spend 800 million yuan ($126 million), starting next year, on either reconstructing some lost structures or renovating some streets to make them look old. The city will also construct new clusters of theatres or museums.

There is no doubt that the new projects will add to the magnificence of the city's appearance and the new theatres and museums will provide both domestic and international visitors with more opportunities to enjoy exhibitions and shows.

However, in an increasingly pluralistic society, the government will have difficulty deciding what kind of art or performance will inhabit these spaces.

We've also noticed that Beijing will set up an office for the creation of masterpieces of art, launch art contribution awards to honor outstanding artists, and a fund to financially support artistic creations.

Support from the government is certainly not a bad thing and makes a difference to a nation's cultural life. When we look back through history, governments of various types have contributed to the creation of masterpieces.

However, what Beijing municipal government needs to think of before squandering its money on high-profile projects is the fact that the creation of art needs the right environment and the building of culture is a long process of accumulation.

Having been the capital of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties (1271-1911), if the existing cultural heritage can be kept in good shape, the capital city does not lack heritage to support its status as a city of cultural significance. The consolidation and renovation of most traditional courtyards within the city center launched by Beijing municipal government more than a year ago is the right approach in this regard.

Beijing has done a great deal to protect its cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, in the past decades, and if this can be maintained and artists have the incentive to create, cultural prosperity will not be that far away.

Beijing home prices drop 11 percent in 2011: association

BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Prices for new residential apartments in Beijing are estimated to have dropped by 11.3 percent year on year in 2011, as the government's policies to cool the sizzling property market took hold.

The average price of a new apartment in the Chinese capital dropped to 13,173 yuan (2,091 U.S. dollars) per square meter in 2011, when about 78,000 units were sold, the Beijing Real Estate Association reported.

China's housing market slumped after the government implemented new policies in early 2011 to curb speculation, including increased deposit requirements and second-home purchase restrictions.

According to the association's report, about 90 percent of housing sales went to families who did not own any property, which suggested that the policies have squeezed out speculative capital in the market.

While tightening its grip on the commercial property market, the city boosted the construction of low-income housing projects. A total of 32,000 low-income housing units were sold in 2011, up 38.5 percent from a year earlier.

Arid capital to get water from key project
Updated: 2012-01-14 07:35
By Jin Zhu (China Daily)

NANJING - A large part of Beijing's water will be supplied by the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) project when it is completed in 2014 as part of the major efforts to relieve the thirsty capital, officials said.

The project will transfer at least 1 billion cubic meters of water to Beijing a year, accounting for one-fourth of the city's annual water supply, said Sun Guosheng, director of the Beijing branch of the SNWD project office, under the State Council.

At present, Beijing needs about 3.6 billion cubic meters of water a year. That will increase to 4 to 5 billion cubic meters by 2020 as economic growth continues to surge, Sun told China Daily on Wednesday during a three-day work conference in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

Partly because of consecutive years of drought, the volume of Miyun reservoir, the city's major source of surface water, has stayed at 1.1 billion cubic meters, according to the Beijing Water Authority.

The average depth of groundwater in Beijing is at 25 meters now, significantly lower than 12 meters in 1999, due to years of overuse, according to the water authority.

"Without the extra water brought from outside, the city has certainly suffered from severe water shortages in recent years," he said.

Since 2008, the Beijing-Shijiazhuang section of the middle route of the SNWD project, linking reservoirs in Hebei with Beijing, began supplying water as an emergency measure to help ease the shortage in the capital.

By the end of 2011, up to 1.1 billion cubic meters of water had been transferred to the city, according to the SNWD project office.

"The quality of the diverted water is Grade 2, which is drinkable after treatment. All of that water has been supplied to residences," Sun said.

The SNWD project will divert water from the Yangtze River in the south via an eastern, middle and western route to satisfy the water demand in the arid northern regions of China.

The eastern route will transfer water from East China's Jiangsu province along the Yangtze River to Tianjin, near Beijing, starting in 2013.

The middle route will supply water from the Danjiangkou Reservoir in Central China's Hubei province into large cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou, in 2014.

By the end of 2011, 330,000 people in Henan and Hubei province had to be relocated to make way for the central route, according to the SNWD project office.

"The remaining 15,000 people will be resettled in the first half of this year, which will complete the relocations," E Jingping, head of the SNWD project office, said at the conference.

More than 64 billion yuan ($10.13 billion) will be invested in the water diversion project this year as it goes into high gear, he said.

China invested 57.8 billion yuan in the project in 2011, bringing the total investment to 137.6 billion yuan so far, official figures showed.

Experts with E's office said the western route, meant to replenish the Yellow River with water diverted from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, now is still at the blueprint stage.

Poly International Plaza T2
A office complex consisting of three towers, 31 (152,8m), 16 (84m) and 12 (67.2m) floors tall planned to start construction in 2012. Its scheduled
completion in 2014 and is located in Wang Jing, Chaoyang District along the Airport Expressway (see map below). SOM (Skidmore, Owings and
Merrill) is the architects of the project.

View the renderings in high resolution (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=87965095&postcount=742)

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/6030/polyinternationalplazas.jpg
Illustration by MIR (http://mir.no/)

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Illustration by SOM (Crystal CG?)

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/4060/betweenbar20pixelsssc.jpghttp://img580.imageshack.us/img580/6030/polyinternationalplazas.jpg
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/4060/betweenbar20pixelsssc.jpgIllustration by MIR (http://mir.no/)

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Location of the project.
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Technical data about the project (copied from this PDF-brochure [731Kb] (http://www.colliersid.com/property_attachments/1310.pdf))
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/5788/polyinternationalplazab.jpg

^^
Thanks for the additional info!
I think it's a pity that the two smaller towers/buildings aren't in the same design like the taller one.

^^
Thanks for the additional info!
I think it's a pity that the two smaller towers/buildings aren't in the same design like the taller one.

I think its good that they aren't in the same design as the main tower, adds more variety to the complex and the tallest building stand out in both height and design.

amazig!

It's got that Hearst Tower and Norman Foster feel!

^^Most towers look some what the same nowadays anyways.

Any updates on SoHo?

One of my favorite projects in Beijing right now.

^^

Which SOHO project you refer to? Wangjing SOHO or Galaxy SOHO? Both of them are under construction ATM.

From www.beijingupdates.com (http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=81434&extra=page%3D1)


Galaxy SOHO at East Second Ring Road

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Wangjing SOHO at Wangjing New Area

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Both, as a matter of fact. :)

oh my god!! or, oh dios mio!!! hahaha

incredible!!!

Wow, those Soho projects look right out of Buck Rogers. ;)

Beijing rolls out huge forestation plan
Updated: 2012-01-13 21:04
China Daily

Millions of trees that cover an area of 1 million mu (66,667 hectares) will be planted in Beijing in the next three years, according to a top government official.

Starting from March, the city will begin planting trees between its fifth and sixth ring roads, on 200,000 mu of land this year, said Chen Gang, the city's Deputy Mayor, at the 5th session of the 13th Beijing Municipal Congress on Thursday.

Some villages will be smartened up, and desolate waste land will be reused to make room for the forestation, which is estimated to take up an expanded area of 1 million mu by the end of 2014, he said.

A series of measures combating the city's serious environmental pollution were set forth at the meeting. Besides the ambitious forestation plan, Beijing will also promote more stringent emission standards, improve fuel oil quality, and strengthen the control of dust at construction sites and so on.

Beijing last week reported a decline in PM2.5 density during the past decade. The number – 70 to 80 micrograms per cubic meter – is still double the standard 35 micrograms set by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, though.

The city's latest anti-pollution efforts are being directed at updating air quality monitoring. Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and PM10 in the city are being monitored by 27 stations of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center which releases and updates the data hourly on its website and micro blog.

A symbol of preservation
China Daily
13:45, February 18, 2012

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The former house of Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin in Dongcheng district of Beijing was demolished in January.

http://english.people.com.cn/mediafile/201202/18/F201202181348264009455920.jpg
A 2009 photo shows a part of the former residence. The demolition proceeded on and off till December 2011, when the house was listed by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage as an "immovable cultural relic".


The leveling of an old-style house in Beijing that was the dwelling of a prominent couple of architects and preservationists has provoked a public outcry.

The demolition of the courtyard house he rented from 1931 to 1937 must have been the last thing Liang Sicheng worried about while he was alive. But for a nation that once sneered at his foresight and calls to protect heritage architecture, it is an ironic symbol for the inexorable advance of the bulldozer and the ravaging of everything that stands in its way.

The man who tried to save old Beijing

More important than that were his efforts, though failed, to protect the city walls of Beijing. In the early years of New China, Liang proposed to leave the old city intact and build a new one to its west. Later, as the city walls fell victim to political winds, he risked everything to save the walls first, then only the wall gates. The then Beijing mayor branded him "despotic" as they engaged in a tug of war over the fate of the old structures.

As they were torn down, Liang lamented: "Whenever a city gate was razed, it was as if they were slicing a piece of my flesh; whenever a section of the wall was gone, it was like skinning me."

We can't appreciate the void because very few of us have seen old Beijing in its authentic majesty, but we can probably understand Liang's frustration. He must have felt like the proverbial bug that tried to stop a rumbling carriage. Yes, he was crushed mercilessly. And we're all poorer for it.

"In 50 years, you'll know I'm right," Liang said famously. How prescient those words seem now.

In a sense, people today are trying to repeat on a very small scale the epic battle Liang attempted but tragically failed - and also to honor him in the process. Of all the residences he inhabited, the house at 24, Beizongbu Hutong, Dongcheng district of Beijing, stands out for two reasons: It was during the Liang couple's stay here that they studied and confirmed the dates and value of many historical works of architecture.

Sure, they conducted their scholarly research in the field, away from home. But while they were in Beijing, their residence served as a salon for the city's literati, attracting luminaries like novelist Shen Congwen and philosopher Jin Yuelin.

As Shan Jixiang, former director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, elucidates: "The emphasis should be placed on the transcendental, cultural and social values of an old residence, rather than purely on the architectural quality and artistic value."

Preserving Liang's old residence is tantamount to holding on to what he stands for: treasuring the tangible and immovable objects that were bequeathed to us by our ancestors and cement our cultural identity. We have made so many blunders before. Can't we save just this little piece of old Beijing?

Hutong in ruins

Large swaths of hutong (narrow lanes) and siheyuan (courtyard houses) have already given way to canyons of high rises. In the old days, when Chinese were barely skirting the poverty line, these old buildings, often rundown and crammed with a dozen or more households in a space designed for one, were perceived as eyesores. They do not have indoor plumbing, flush toilets or other modern amenities. People in the 1980s were eager to move out and into apartment buildings.

But the rapid rise of living standards and growing exposure to outside influences have awakened in us the intrinsic value of these uniquely Beijing residential forms. It did not take long before they crumbled in large expanses in the face of urban renewal.

Nationwide, the scene of destruction is multiplied hundreds of times as anything that obstructs the maximizing of profits is treated the same way so-called "class enemies" were dealt with in an earlier era.

If you talk to real estate developers and those who share their interests, you'll hear something different: These old buildings are invariably in ramshackle conditions, violating fire codes and otherwise not up to modern standards of safety or comfort. But they conveniently omit the fact these buildings tend to occupy large tracts of prime land, and their existence in the current mode will block the developers from realizing the highest profits from the land.

These people will be quick to add that they love traditional Chinese architecture more than anyone. As a matter of fact, they will rebuild this or that structure exactly as it looked in its most glorious days, but with reinforced beams and concrete pillars covered with wooden panels. In other words, they want the best of a theme park and a museum: seemingly ancient buildings with all the trappings of modernity.

That said, not all the "fake antique structures" are monstrosities. Some are tastefully designed and do not claim to have historical significance.

Where the famous once dwelt

The same contradiction manifests itself in some people's attitudes toward residences of the famed. On the one hand, the drive to raze old buildings rarely spare those surrounded by the luster of the distinguished residents, on the other hand there is an urge to associate a place with the big names of yore. In recent years, some local governments have ventured so far as to fight for the "official hometown" of fictional characters that surface only in novels or fairy tales.

One village I visited in 2011 constructed a new house it claimed to be the ancestral residence of an ancient general, in order to "enhance our cultural gravitas", to quote the village chief. But to his chagrin, he later found out another village in a nearby province had already claimed the same general to be their "native son".

What is the appropriate level of protection for old residences with historical value? Do we have to turn every one of them into a mini-museum? The cultural heritage bureaus can designate these buildings, but they usually do not provide the financial wherewithal for upkeep or protection. That is why local governments often take the side of developers.

Indeed, a few of these buildings can be turned into tourist destinations, but most do not have that potential. For those with low historical value and low tourism promise, some kind of middle ground should be found between indiscriminate demolition and strict protection. In this heyday of economic growth, it is unfeasible to expect the ubiquitous stipulation of "maintain it as it is" to counter the visual blaring of "chai!" (tear down).

Maybe some buildings should be allowed indoor renewal while keeping the facade. Others can leave the ground floor for public viewing with private spaces reserved for current owners.

One thing that can be done without too much cost or hassle - but with thorough research - is to place small plaques on those buildings once resided in by prominent citizens of the country or city. Just the name, the profession and the dates of stay will suffice.

Imagine how much a casual passerby will feel walking down the street with such "annotated" buildings. It'll be like walking down a history book.

Getting back to Liang Sicheng, who was the uncle of Maya Lin and the son of the great Liang Qichao. The public gets emotional about his home partly because most people who are not part of the intelligentsia learned about him and his love story through a wildly popular television soap opera.

Suddenly this pioneer of Chinese architecture and its preservation was humanized. You see history condensed in and refracted through one renowned family. That adds to the intangible value of his erstwhile abode. If only the people in charge of developing that property knew what an added asset that is.

Beijing Bohai Innovation City

For more information click on archdaily link (http://www.archdaily.com/210332/som-wins-master-plan-competition-for-beijing-bohai-innovation-city/)

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^^
Where in Beijing is this "city" located?

It says along the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail on Beijing-Tianjin corridor. I suppose it's either in Daxing or Tongzhou in SE Beijing. :cheers:

SOM Wins Master Plan Competition for Beijing Bohai Innovation City

CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A new model of compact, environmentally enhanced urban design by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) for the rapid development of satellite cities along Chinese high speed rail corridors has won an international design competition with its Beijing Bohai Innovation City master plan.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120221/CG57159)

The winning SOM plan leverages the economic and lifestyle assets of the Beijing-Tianjin corridor by centering the new environmentally friendly district along the high-speed-rail line linking the national capital to the port city of Tianjin. The city expansion will host 17.6 million square meters of mixed-use development, with a focus on providing a premier headquarters location for advanced industries in the dynamically growing Bohai Rim, a region that already accounts for more than a quarter of China's GDP.

With half the 1,473-hectare site allocated to open space and nature, Beijing Bohai Innovation City builds upon SOM's more than seven years of sustainable, high-performance city design throughout the region – from its award-winning green Beijing CBD expansion master plan to numerous projects in Tianjin, including the rapidly rising Yujiapu Financial District.

"Beijing Bohai Innovation City establishes a new model of transit-oriented development at an unprecedented scale," said project chief designer Thomas Hussey of SOM's Chicago urban planning studio. "The new district will leverage the high-speed rail to bridge two major metropolitan areas and create a sustainable urban environment that concentrates walkable, compact densities around transit stations, while still preserving existing agriculture and green space."

The client commented on the winning design scheme in a written statement, "SOM has designed a human and family-oriented mixed-use urban community within an environmentally friendly framework to attract talented people and forward-thinking Chinese and international firms that want to position themselves in the same way."

In addition to setting specific and aggressive goals for water, energy, waste, renewable energy and building design efficiency, the winning design scheme builds upon landscape design firm Turenscape's proposed central wetland park by calling for functional environmental systems to filter and clean storm water before returning it to adjoining rivers.

"This project underlines China's commitment to transit-based and environmentally sensitive planning. There is tremendous potential here, and we would like to work with the District Government, Development Company and other stakeholders to further define the character of the city and tailor it to meet the needs and desires of the people and industries that will make Beijing Bohai Innovation City a national model for the country's next generation of satellite city development," said SOM global planning partner Philip J. Enquist.

The master plan is designed with a central business district organized around a high speed train station and five distinct neighborhoods offering diverse housing, education, shopping and work destinations. It modifies the street grid to incorporate existing road alignments while enhancing connectivity to the high speed rail station and creating special view corridors to landmark developments.

SOM's Beijing Bohai Innovation City concept emerged from the competition for "Beijing Bohai Rim Advanced Business Park" held jointly by Beijing Tongzhou District Taihu High End Headquarters Construction Management Committee and Beijing Xinghu Investment and Development Co. Ltd.

The plan also provides an advanced multi-modal transportation network highlighted by the city's close proximity to the existing capital airport and a potential new international airport south of Beijing. By uniting high-speed rail with metro lines, bus rapid transit, local streetcar and a state-of-the-art electric car fleet, the plan enables 80 percent of the city's personal transportation to be by transit, walking and bicycling. Combined with pedestrian and bicycle friendly street design, this network conveniently connects residents to neighboring workplaces, schools and cultural amenities along green streets and corridors.

About SOM

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is one of the leading architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban-planning firms in the world, with a 75-year reputation for design excellence and a portfolio that includes some of the most important architectural accomplishments of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since its inception, SOM has been a leader in the research and development of specialized technologies, new processes and innovative ideas, many of which have had a palpable and lasting impact on the design profession and the physical environment. The firm's longstanding leadership in design and building technology has been honored with more than 1,500 awards for quality, innovation, and management. The American Institute of Architects has recognized SOM twice with its highest honor, the Architecture Firm Award—in 1962 and again in 1996. The firm maintains offices in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi.

More information can be found at www.som.com.

I would expectYizhuang, the metro/CRH station not opened yet, having lots of enthusiastic construction in the neighbourhood.

National Newspaper, The People's Daily/人民日报 (Chinese Communist Party's Mouthpiece) New Headquarters Building Construction Updates. It was designed by Zhou Qi from Nanjing-based Southeast University Architectural Design Institute.

From www.beijingupdates.com (http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=123793&extra=page%3D1)

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1202/12022715500bbee1802c9ae9ca.jpg

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1202/1202271546d50982c1853e875e.jpg

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1202/120227155161b89d71d167206d.jpg

Wangjing SOHO construction updates. It was designed by Iraqi Born British Architect Zaha Hadid.

From www.beijingupdates.com (http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=70606&extra=page%3D1&page=1)

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1102/1102020116d01f5b3ed60cd9f6.jpg

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1202/1202241717e4ad59fa6bc114f8.jpg

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1202/1202241717dcf826251a91183e.jpg

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1202/12022417101cb4fef951663b5f.jpg

National Newspaper, The People's Daily/人民日报 (Chinese Communist Party's Mouthpiece) New Headquarters Building Construction Updates. It was designed by Zhou Qi from Nanjing-based Southeast University Architectural Design Institute.


http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1202/1202271546d50982c1853e875e.jpg



:cheers::cheers::cheers:

^^How tall do you guys think that headquarter building will be?

http://yuanlin.chla.com.cn/upload/2009-08/09082009497437s.jpg

http://yuanlin.chla.com.cn/upload/2009-08/09082009496151s.jpg

About 150M, and it seems quite close to the New CCTV Tower. Click on the given Source (http://yuanlin.chla.com.cn/html/c187/2009-08/41191.html). :cheers:

CCTV is 234m, it looks quite comparable, so methinks taller than 150m

^^ You are right, little mouse! Apologize for my mistake in translation, it's actually saying More than 150M. :)

New Epic Mega-Structure, Parkview Green/侨福芳草地 (An Office Tower+ A Hotel+ A Shopping Mall) near CBD will be opening soon...

From www.beijingupdates.com (http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=123470&from=indexheats_pic)

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1202/1202251345a3d39f0fcfad8a30.jpg

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1202/1202251346f8c898adfc2ca1ca.jpg

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1202/120225134752fc8f9b726c9ec4.jpg


From www.worldbuildingsdirectory.com (http://www.worldbuildingsdirectory.com/project.cfm?id=3453)

http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group5/building40423/media/Parkview%20Green%201.jpg

http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group5/building40423/media/Parkview%20Green%209.jpg

http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group5/building40423/media/Parkview%20Green%206.jpg

http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group5/building40423/media/Parkview%20Green%207.jpg

http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group5/building40423/media/Parkview%20Green%208.jpg

http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group5/building40423/media/Parkview%20Green%2010.jpg

http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group5/building40423/media/Parkview%20Green%2021.jpg

http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group5/building40423/media/Parkview%20Green%204.jpg

more pictures of the Conrad hotel

on archello.com :
http://www.archello.com/en/project/conrad-hotel

http://www.archello.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/media_enlarge_switch/story/media/resized1_62.jpg

http://www.archello.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/media_enlarge_switch/story/media/resized2_65.jpg

^^

This Guy Designed by Local MAD Architects is going to be finished soon!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7047/6960479369_7c0dfbb952_z.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zhaodongmeng/6960479369/sizes/z/in/photostream/

New Epic Mega-Structure, Parkview Green/侨福芳草地 (An Office Tower+ A Hotel+ A Shopping Mall) near CBD will be opening soon...
...
http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group5/building40423/media/Parkview%20Green%204.jpg
I didn't realise it wasn't even open yet. :shocked: I remember seeing it when I first went to China in August 2010 - amazing that it's taken so long to open, I guess it might have only just been built when I was there, and the internal works probably took quite a while.

http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group5/building40423/media/Parkview%20Green%209.jpg
Are those real cows or is it just an installation? :lol:

^^

That's not Beijing "Stock" Market, Mate! :nuts:

Tsinghua University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsinghua_University) Law Department Library Proposal by Local Architects Zhubo Studio/筑博建筑工作室 (http://ztudio-zhubo.com/zstudio-CH/index-CH.html)

For More Information Click on Achdaily Link (http://www.archdaily.com/216009/tsinghua-university-law-department-library-proposal-zhubo/)


http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331609041-------------zhao-daelg-zhao-xiao--70-1000x707.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331608872-------------zhao-daelg-zhao-xiao--11-1000x707.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331608891-------------zhao-daelg-zhao-xiao--13-1000x707.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331608819-------------zhao-daelg-zhao-xiao--07-1000x890.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331608847-------------zhao-daelg-zhao-xiao--09-1000x707.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331608915-------------zhao-daelg-zhao-xiao--14-1000x790.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331608945-------------zhao-daelg-zhao-xiao--15-1000x704.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331608968-------------zhao-daelg-zhao-xiao--16-1000x773.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331608985-------------zhao-daelg-zhao-xiao--17-1000x731.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331609009-------------zhao-daelg-zhao-xiao--60-1000x707.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331609077-------------zhao-daelg-zhao-xiao--73-1000x707.jpg

International Strawberry Symposium Venue (Forum for strawberry cultivation and production) by Local Architects Dada Architecture (http://dada-a.com/), Changping District, Northern Beijing.

That's why the Complex looks like a bunch of Strawberries except for the colour i suppose. :lol:

From www.archdaily.com (http://www.archdaily.com/217295/7th-international-strawberry-symposium-dada-architectural-design-planning/)

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331859799-section-1000x750.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331859479-mainimage-iss-001-web-small-1000x666.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331859659-iss-006-web-666x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331859555-iss-002-web-666x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331859583-iss-003-web-1000x666.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331859600-iss-004-web-1000x666.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1331859621-iss-005-web-1000x660.jpg

Main Pavilion for the 9th Beijing International Garden Expo by Local Architects Atelier 11/ 拾壹建筑工作室 (http://www.atelier11china.com/)

From www.archdaily.com (http://www.archdaily.com/219396/main-pavilion-for-the-9th-china-beijing-international-garden-expo-atelier-11/)

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1332406448-16-1000x706.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1332406450-17-1000x406.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1332406456-18-1000x750.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1332406435-12-1000x260.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1332406396-2-1000x345.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1332406407-4-1000x417.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1332406402-3-1000x413.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1332406392-1-1000x460.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6228/6882986082_226ea9618c_o.jpg

What it for construction?

^^

That's the 243M Tall Observation Tower under constrcution at Olympic Park.

http://www.cadreg.com.cn/ImageFiles/2007-2/Image/x奥林匹克公园观景塔02.jpg

http://www.cadreg.com.cn/ImageFiles/2007-2/Image/x奥林匹克公园观景塔01.jpg

Thank you very much! :master:

Bulldozers to move on campus tenants

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2012-03/28/002170196e1c10dc9143021n.jpg
A sofa belonging to former Tsinghua University employees is abandoned near their homes beside the CCTV Tower on Thursday. Thirteen households refuse to vacate the property set for demolition. (Source:China Daily / Wang Yuanzheng)

BEIJING, March 28 (China Daily) -- Demolition is to begin immediately on the campus homes of former employees of Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Bulldozers are due to move on the homes of two of the 13 residents and their families, who have been fighting for more compensation, on Wednesday.

"We will not accept it and ask for help from the municipal government. It's unfair," said Wan Xiaohui from one of the families who were asked to move out of their dormitory buildings in July.

A court ruled on Tuesday that developers could begin demolition before compensation to the residents was settled.

Negotiations began on Monday between the university and the residents about the amount of compensation they will receive.

The university sold 36,000 square meters of land on its Guanghua Road campus, near the China Central Television Tower, to Beijing CBD Development and Construction in July for 2.4 billion yuan (381 million U.S. dollars) and the developer promised to construct an office building for the university.

Thirteen residents on the property, mostly former university canteen and maintenance staff, and their families have refused to move out, claiming that the compensation offered is too low for them to buy new apartments.

The developer has sued the university and the residents for not clearing the premises by the time stipulated in the contract, which was October.

At a hearing on March 19, the Nanmofang court in Chaoyang district told the university and residents to settle their dispute. On Tuesday, it allowed demolition to proceed.

Tsinghua University stands by the contract it made with the developer, its representative said at the court. Li Yiying, a manager with the developer, declined to comment.

"We will discuss the compensation with every single household before next hearing. The negotiations will go on for three days," Chen Yu, the attorney for Tsinghua University, told China Daily on Sunday.

But he declined to give details, because the negotiations are ongoing. "We'll make some adjustments to reach a satisfactory conclusion with all of them."

The houses are dormitories varying from eight to dozens of square meters that were rented to the staff members. The university initially promised to give the residents about 50,000 yuan for each square meter as compensation.

"The residents don't own the property, and considering the small size of their dorms, the university is offering them higher compensation than was paid with similar projects in the area," Chen said.

The residents expressed their anger about the compensation and the university.

"No official from Tsinghua University talked with us about demolition until the court summons were delivered," said Wang Yiqin, 49, an art teacher in a Beijing-based university. "The compensation isn't enough. I can't afford a new house in Beijing where home prices are surging."

Wang, who shares an 80-sq-m apartment with her ex-husband, a former teacher at Tsinghua University, said she hoped to get another home with two bedrooms and a living room.

Wan Xiaohui, a former accountant at the university, echoed Wang, saying none of the residents knew anything about the demolition.

"We had no idea about the demolition and compensation details. What we got was demolition starting Aug 11 and several court summons," he said. "We'd like to move, but we also have the right to know the compensation details."

Wan said no one had come to measure the rooms.

Wang Yu, a property lawyer at Beijing Dacheng Law Offices, said similar compensation and demolition cases are common with the development of the domestic property market in recent years.

"Compared with the developers, residents are more vulnerable to economic loss, so they need more help during the negotiations," he said. "Seven out of 10 cases are settled out of court, with tenants ending up getting higher compensation."

"But it requires considerable negotiation skills from these tenants and takes a long time."

^^

That's the 243M Tall Observation Tower under constrcution at Olympic Park.

http://www.cadreg.com.cn/ImageFiles/2007-2/Image/x奥林匹克公园观景塔02.jpg

http://www.cadreg.com.cn/ImageFiles/2007-2/Image/x奥林匹克公园观景塔01.jpg

WOW! There really should be a thread for this building!

^^ Why wasn't it constructed for the Olympics?

What's the point constructing such a nice tower 4 years after its been held?

^^ Why wasn't it constructed for the Olympics?

What's the point constructing such a nice tower 4 years after its been held?

Well its better than canceled.

wow!! this tower is amazing! incredile!!

^^ Was this idea even presented before the olympics? There was another short olympic green obervation tower that was build for the olympics. I think they are trying to build on the popularity of the area and create a place for culture and tourism. Part of the watercube has a been converted to a public waterpark. There are plans for a national art museum. This will be another attraction for tourists to visit...

ThyssenKrupp Elevator continues its success in introducing TWIN to elevator market in China

2 TWIN systems for the Sightseeing Tower in the Beijing Olympic Park

ThyssenKrupp Elevator (China), a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Elevator AG, has recently secured the contract to supply and install two TWIN panoramic systems for the Sightseeing Tower situated in the Beijing Olympic Park.

Located in the northeast of the Olympic Park, with a site area of 6,600m2 and an estimated built-up area of 18,900m2, the Sightseeing Tower consists of five independent towers attached together by aerial terraces. The main and tallest tower in the center, at 258 meters high and surrounded by four supporting towers of different heights and sizes, contains two observation decks at the height of 222 meters and 228 meters respectively. In addition to its aesthetic appeal, the Sightseeing Tower resembles the five Olympic Rings from a bird’s eye view, symbolizing the union of the five continents and the spirit of the Olympic Games.

Exclusively available from ThyssenKrupp Elevator, the 2 TWIN panoramic systems – in which two cabs travel independently of each other in a single shaft – can take visitors swiftly to and from the observation decks while enjoying the surrounding scenery all the way up and down the tower. Visitors can get a panoramic overview of both old and new Beijing from the observation decks where they can also have drinks and snacks in the international food and beverage chains. After two TWIN systems were supplied to the five-star luxury Bayshore Hotel in the coastal city of Dalian earlier this year, this prestigious contract marks the second TWIN project in China.

Originally built for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, the Olympic Park is becoming a microcosm of Beijing's urban construction in the new century, being multi-functional, combining business and trade, office, exhibition, sports, exposition and entertainment in one location. The centerpiece of this park is Beijing National Stadium (also known as “Bird’s Nest”), National Aquatics Center ("Water Cube"), National Grand Theater, the Convention Center, etc. The Sightseeing Tower, designed by the China Architecture Design and Research Group, will become yet another iconic architectural landmark in the Olympic Park upon its completion in September 2012.

The Elevator Technology business area brings together the ThyssenKrupp Group's global activities in passenger transportation systems. With more than 46,000 employees, sales of EUR 5.3 billion in fiscal 2010/2011 and customers in 150 countries, ThyssenKrupp Elevator is one of the world's leading elevator companies. The company's portfolio includes passenger and freight elevators, escalators and moving walks, passenger boarding bridges, stair and platform lifts as well as tailored service solutions for all products. 900 locations around the world provide an extensive sales and service network to guarantee closeness to customers. ThyssenKrupp Elevator (China) is active in the local market with a dense network of branches and offices offering new installation, modernization and service business for the complete product range.

Source: http://thyssenkrupp-elevator.co.in/en/press_release-11132

Greening more rooftops can help the capital clean up its air, Cheng Anqi reports in Beijing.

As public debate on air pollution heats up, many are increasingly looking to the Chinese capital's skies to cool rapid urbanization with more greenery. The Beijing municipal government has already announced plans to improve the quality of the city's air by covering 100,000 sq m of roofs with greenery by the end of this year. "Plants and water have been proven to be one of the most effective measures to degrade and dilute PM2.5," says Tan Tianying, president of Beijing Green Roof Association, referring to fine particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less that are small enough to enter the smallest airways.

"If the city can make better use of building facades and rooftops for greening the environment, or add to the vertical landscape, carbon dioxide can also be greatly reduced."

Greening rooftops in cities, or maintaining "living roofs", includes partially or completely covering them with vegetation planted over a waterproofing membrane. Similarly, the vertical landscape, designed to be modular, involves cultivating a garden that grows on walls.

Both methods can filter pollutants and carbon dioxide from the air. This can help people suffering from related afflictions such as asthma.

There are nearly 140 million sq m of bare roofs and walls that are not used for vertical landscaping in Beijing, Tan says.

The exposed spaces not only mar the beauty of the city, but also can add to an unhealthy environment.

"Vertical landscaping and green rooftops hold great potential in urban areas," Tan says. "They benefit more than just their owners."

If each person in Beijing grows just 1 sq m of green area, he says, the capital will be guaranteed with another 20 million sq m of greenery, equivalent to the park area of "dozens of Summer Palaces".

Rooftop plants can also alleviate the urban "heat island effect", Tan says. A layer of plants and earth can cut the rate of heat absorption through the roof in summer by 84 percent, he says. The greenery becomes a great way to stay cool.

Beijing also started to convert 13,000 hectares of land along its 6th Ring Road into forest this month. The green moves are part of a major development program under the capital's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), which has set a target of afforesting 67,000 hectares of land.

Wang Xianmin, secretary-general of the World Green Roof Association, says that 13,000 hectares of trees can absorb 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide and release 1.09 million tons of oxygen every year.

"The recently announced afforestation and roof greening projects are some of the greatest moves I have seen in 60 years since I've been living in Beijing," he says.

"Rooftop greening is one of the most effective ways to reduce the concentration of PM2.5."

Wang offers Canada's rooftop greening efforts as an example for Beijing.

Canada is a heavily forested country, with a total forest coverage of 44 percent, but it still promotes rooftop greening and vertical landscaping in its cities' downtown areas.

Only 3 to 5 percent of negative ions of oxygen - which are beneficial to humans - can reach the downtown areas from forest regions near cities like Toronto, Wang says.

As a result, the Canadian government calls for greening roofs to control the emission of PM 2.5 and reduce the "heat island effect".

The amount of negative ions of oxygen measured at noon one day last summer at Beijing's Tiananmen Square was merely 600 units per cubic centimeter but reached 70,000 units in Miyun district, a suburban area two hours' drive from downtown, Wang says.

In the Greater Hinggan Mountains in northeastern China, the level can easily hit 110,000.

"I hope that the successful experiences of Canada can give us some inspiration on how to improve air quality in the country," says Wang, who believes that the continuous increase in the number of vehicles is one of the major reasons behind the city's air pollution.

The number of vehicles in the country already hit 217 million in 2011, industry figures show. During a traffic congestion, Beijing, which has more than 5 million vehicles, would experience PM 2.5 levels that were up to six times of what was measured on normal days.

The Great Wall Hotel on the capital's 3rd Ring Road was a pioneer of rooftop gardens in northern cities in 1983, when there were less than 200,000 vehicles in Beijing.

"People often held parties on the hotel roof at night, which seldom happens today as the air pollution is getting worse," Wang says.

Beijing Asia Hotel by the 2nd Ring Road is held up as another good example of rooftop greening. The hotel turned the roofs of its office building into a chain of gardens in 2004.

As part of a pilot project in Beijing's Dongcheng district, the roof gardens also feature a 800-sq-m coverage of needle stonecrop (Sedum lineare), an attractive plant that is also popular for its ability to contain water, the hotel's guest service manager Wang Hui says.

"We regularly invite horticulturists to advise us on roof garden cultivation and maintenance," he says. "So we don't spend much money on repetitive works."

While the temperature on conventional roofs can reach 40 C at 1 pm in summer, the hotel's green rooftop is usually much cooler, Wang says.

While a number of real estate agencies believe that vertical landscaping is not worth the expense, that is a misconception because the greenery can protect buildings as well as increase the value of the property, Wang says.

The development of rooftop greenery in Beijing is held back by other wrong practices, including inadequate waterproofing that leads to leakage. All these serve to discourage more people from greening their rooftops, he says.

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/attachement/jpg/site181/20120402/b8ac6f4a88cd10e344ee0a.jpg

Green rooftops in cities can filter pollutants and carbon dioxide from the air and help reduce the concentration of PM2.5, the fine particulate matter that can be harmful to humans

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2012-04/02/content_14969425.htm

I took some photos of the Observation Tower.
Should I post them here?

^^ please do..ty.

http://i.imgur.com/lvkbG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/hiRRJ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/6bhj3.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/f8VVU.jpg

^^

when will completed??

I would expectYizhuang, the metro/CRH station not opened yet, having lots of enthusiastic construction in the neighbourhood.

Yep, definitely Yizhuang. See the map in this video (http://vimeo.com/38663637) at 1:25. This is the unopened CRH station at Yizhuang. It has a Yizhuang look to it as well.

The Old Sightseeing Tower, Linglong Tower/玲珑塔 Visually juxtaposes with the arising New Sightseeing Tower at Olympic Park

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7117/6870298288_25c0ba4c64_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/carfull/6870298288/)
Olympic Torch and Cranes (http://www.flickr.com/photos/carfull/6870298288/) by carfull...Wyoming (http://www.flickr.com/people/carfull/), on Flickr

China builds first aerospace medical lab

BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China has established its first national key lab in fundamental and applied studies of aerospace medicine, which is set to provide significant research support for astronauts' health during space missions, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The ministry signed off the lab as up to standard on Tuesday. Construction of the lab began in September 2009.

Built in the China Astronaut Center of Beijing Aerospace City, the lab is the country's first lab dedicated to aerospace medical research, said Li Yinghui, a senior scientist with the China Manned Space Engineering project.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing!


I'd like to see an independent thread for this observation tower. Someone, please collect some info, renderings and images and open one, thanks! :)

more pictures of the Conrad hotel

on archello.com :
http://www.archello.com/en/project/conrad-hotel

http://www.archello.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/media_enlarge_switch/story/media/resized1_62.jpg

http://www.archello.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/media_enlarge_switch/story/media/resized2_65.jpg

^^

This guy is making progress

From www.beijingupdates.com (http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=125172&extra=page%3D1)

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1203/1203222307829d7a2519253a8c.jpg

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1203/1203222305ed004c7cb68c14b0.jpg

Galaxy SOHO Updates

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=90465958#post90465958

December 2011

http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20111205/000cf1a48f87104671fc0a.jpg

Source: http://www.china.org.cn/travel/2011-12/05/content_24074663.htm

February 2012

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4690/wpidsohogalaxybeijing2.jpg

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/46/wpidsohogalaxybeijing1.jpg

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/1561/wpidsohogalaxybeijing3.jpg

Source: http://www.nathanielmcmahon.com/blog/tag/soho-galaxy/

For the observation tower project, please refer to its dedicated thread in the Skyscrapers section : http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1504640

^^

when will completed??


By the end of this year!

From www.beijingupdates.com (http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=81434&extra=page%3D1)


Galaxy SOHO at East Second Ring Road

http://img181.poco.cn/mypoco/myphoto/20110410/15/56268519201104101552413302586142360_034.jpg




Galaxy SOHO /银河SOHO Updates

From www.beijingupdates.com (http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=125571&extra=page%3D1)

http://www.beijingupdates.com/forum/attachments/month_1203/1203301646f3bf1682de6e71ce.jpg

No need to quote all the renderings all over again. Thanks.

More Galaxy SOHO Updates

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8151/7102517045_d659ca7a0a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7102517045/)
IMG_8349 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7102517045/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8024/6956522644_a25fe89465_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/6956522644/)
IMG_8319 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/6956522644/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7070/7102506659_b3673410d6_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7102506659/)
IMG_8327-28 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7102506659/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8027/7102686771_8d390ec015_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7102686771/)
IMG_8332-44 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7102686771/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7134/6956537216_6500cd2f31_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/6956537216/)
IMG_8353-54 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/6956537216/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7099/7102601819_2e2d2bbbd5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7102601819/)
IMG_8348 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7102601819/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7260/6956505526_1e2667a633_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/6956505526/)
IMG_8342-43 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/6956505526/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7193/6956470740_70357728d1_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/6956470740/)
IMG_8324 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/6956470740/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7070/7102506659_b3673410d6_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7102506659/)
IMG_8327-28 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7102506659/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

hello, i would like to ask.. is there any possibilities i could have the info on CCTV building, building services? where should i get it.. its for my case study.. thank you!

Yue Art Gallery/悦.美术馆 in 798 Art Zone Designed by Local Architects Tao Lei Architect Studio, Converted from an old military factory warehouse

It is the finest Minimalism Design (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimalism) i've found in Beijing by local Architects so far. The Design "implying a renewed spirit born in the old building, which is also showing the instinct strength in the 798 art area"(Quotes from the achdaily website).

From www.archdaily.com (http://www.archdaily.com/228765/yue-art-gallery-tao-lei-architect-studio/)

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335235212-drawing-03-706x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335233982-mainimage-01-1000x842.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335234064-02-1000x676.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335234116-03-666x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335234201-05-666x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335234167-04-1000x667.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335235093-10-1000x976.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335234600-08-666x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335234385-07-666x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335235060-09-1000x667.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335234323-06-1000x667.jpg

Beijing Conrad Hotel Updates (Designed by Local MAD Architects (http://www.i-mad.com/))



http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7228/7136704805_4a432df917_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136704805/)
IMG_8046-47 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136704805/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8145/7136682629_2c32189d5b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136682629/)
IMG_8037-38 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136682629/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7063/6990594042_09d944744d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/6990594042/)
IMG_8063 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/6990594042/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8167/7136687065_1dbf9f57c6_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136687065/)
IMG_8034 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136687065/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7220/7136709271_39d903a2b1_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136709271/)
IMG_8065 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136709271/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7235/7136686229_2e912b87b5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136686229/)
IMG_8061 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136686229/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7252/7136698153_88881b0d4b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136698153/)
IMG_8062 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/7136698153/) by trevor.patt (http://www.flickr.com/people/trevorpatt/), on Flickr

China Mobile Headquarters Expansion

From Archdaily.com (http://www.archdaily.com/230498/plot-b-of-china-mobile-international-headquarters-campus-leo-a-daly/)

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335751053-china-mobile-exteriors-2-1000x710.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335751056-china-mobile-exteriors-3-1000x705.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335751059-china-mobile-interiors-1-1000x625.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335751062-china-mobile-interiors-2-1000x625.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335751050-china-mobile-exteriors-1-1000x520.jpg

wow amazing

Anyone has any ideas what this building is in Beijing?

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7197/7154037313_30f779a696_b.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k-ly/7154037313/sizes/z/in/photostream/

wow looks really nice

China World Trade Centre Phase 3B (next to the Phase 3 Building, which is currently the tallest building in Beijing) by SOM.

Ground will be broken on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 for Skidmore Owing & Merrill LLP (SOM)’s newest building at Beijing’s China World Trade Center (CWTC) complex. The 58-story Phase 3B Tower features sleek horizontal bands of canted glass that wrap the building’s square floor plates. The 918-feet (280-meters) tall icon will be located immediately northeast of the 74-story, SOM-designed China World Trade Center Tower 3, completed in 2010—which is the tallest building in the Chinese capital. More images and complete press release after the break. (quotes from Archdaily.com (http://www.archdaily.com/232677/soms-newest-building-at-beijings-china-world-trade-center-cwtc-complex/))

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1336490971-cwtc-3b-perspective-from-ne-772x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1336490982-cwtc-3b-arial-from-sw-772x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1336490976-cwtc-3b-perspective-detail-646x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1336490965-cwtc-3b-perspective-from-se-772x1000.jpg

^^

on the first render it looked taller than the world trade center :nuts:

Nice renders. I think this part of the Beijing World Trade Center complex right? :)

China World Trade Centre Phase 3B (next to the Phase 3 Building, which is currently the tallest building in Beijing) by SOM.

Ground will be broken on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 for Skidmore Owing & Merrill LLP (SOM)’s newest building at Beijing’s China World Trade Center (CWTC) complex. The 58-story Phase 3B Tower features sleek horizontal bands of canted glass that wrap the building’s square floor plates. The 918-feet (280-meters) tall icon will be located immediately northeast of the 74-story, SOM-designed China World Trade Center Tower 3, completed in 2010—which is the tallest building in the Chinese capital. More images and complete press release after the break. (quotes from Archdaily.com (http://www.archdaily.com/232677/soms-newest-building-at-beijings-china-world-trade-center-cwtc-complex/))

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1336490971-cwtc-3b-perspective-from-ne-772x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1336490982-cwtc-3b-arial-from-sw-772x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1336490976-cwtc-3b-perspective-detail-646x1000.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1336490965-cwtc-3b-perspective-from-se-772x1000.jpg

beautiful tower!!

China Mobile Headquarters Expansion

From Archdaily.com (http://www.archdaily.com/230498/plot-b-of-china-mobile-international-headquarters-campus-leo-a-daly/)

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335751053-china-mobile-exteriors-2-1000x710.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335751056-china-mobile-exteriors-3-1000x705.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335751059-china-mobile-interiors-1-1000x625.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335751062-china-mobile-interiors-2-1000x625.jpg

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1335751050-china-mobile-exteriors-1-1000x520.jpg

When will its construction starts?

Do we have a thread of this project? :)

Iconic building reaches completion

The Beijing CCTV tower, a building that has been iconic since its conception back in 2002, has officially been completed. The project which has been 10 years in the making saw its official construction completion marked with a ceremony today in Beijing....http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=19799

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/19799_1_1.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/19799_2_2.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/19799_3_3.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/19799_4_4.jpg

^^

Wanna see more interior pics. :cheers:

Sasaki designs National Creative Cluster

Located near Songzhuang, a quiet village on the outskirts of Beijing, a unique opportunity exists to create a new urban district dedicated entirely to the cultivation of new ideas. The National Creative Cluster (NCC) is envisioned as China's preeminent knowledge hub, making the district a center for the country's innovative home-grown talent and a destination for the world's most creative thinkers.

Sasaki's master plan for NCC - selected in May 2012 as the preferred scheme for implementation - focuses on principles that underscore and support the overarching philosophy of the district: to bring industries with shared values and complementary skills and technologies together to help spark new ideas.

Acting as an incubator, the success of the district is tied to its openness, where people can interact in both structured and spontaneous ways to exchange ideas and have constructive dialogue. To attract a talented workforce, NCC will also provide institutes for continuing education, museums and galleries for inspiration, entertainment venues to encourage social interaction, and bold landscapes to help recharge the mind, body, and spirit.

The district's diversity of industry, people, and spatial relationships are aimed to foster creativity and encourage an endless stream of new ideas. Sasaki's master plan integrates the urban form with the surrounding landscape by creating a series of green wedges, interspersed within the urban clusters and forming a series of community parks.

The landscape is both beautiful and functional - it encourages biodiversity, filters stormwater, and provides seasonal interest and color. The landscape also forms a strong connection between humans and nature, which fuels innovation and creativity. A new transit loop is also a key element of the plan, and establishes a connection between the hubs of NCC to the existing core of the Songzhaung Artists Village to enhance the movement of both people and ideas.

http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=19810

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/19810_1_1337284889_1352lCreativeCluster.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/19810_2_1337284889_1160lCreativeCluster.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/19810_3_1337284890_594lCreativeCluster.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/19810_4_1337284890_3594lCreativeCluster.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/19810_5_1337284890_8529lCreativeCluster.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/19810_6_1337284890_6297lCreativeCluster.jpg

A lot of state of art project being made in Beijing :)

A lot of state of art project being made in Beijing :)

Right. I do hope there could be more projects like this in second and third-tier cities of China.