When I first flew to Shenzhen in 2005, I was amazed at the architecture. I wrote about it more than once.
The city is new, the city turned 40 last year, it was built on the hills that were cut off.
In 2005, it was home to about 5 million people, now Shenzhen is home to about 22 million people.
When you drive around the city, it is about 120 km, or even 150 now, many microdistricts have been built and grown to the city, from one end to the other, to the city beach itself, the architecture is amazing.
It seems like skyscrapers, everything seems to be similar to each other, but no.
All different. And in the evenings, the lighting is different everywhere.
The city in 2008, if I'm not mistaken, received some kind of prize from UNESCO, in my opinion, as a city with the best architecture. Maybe I'm wrong, but he definitely got something for architecture. There are practically no identical buildings in it. All different.
Now many cities in China can boast of elegant buildings, that's for sure, where architects can roam, embodying their most daring thoughts.
And, yes, architects are often foreign. :)))
Some people look and then write in the comments "why this pretentiousness." Well, yes, for someone it is more familiar and better for understanding ordinary houses, no question.
But I really love different artsy buildings.
Today I want to show you one such thing.
This is Wuxi Wanda Exhibition Center in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province in China.
t was built several years ago in the form of a huge teapot.
Why a kettle?
Because it is the cultural symbol of Jiangsu Province. The famous Chinese teapots appeared in Jiangsu province in the 15th century and, since then, have been one of the most famous symbols of China.
Therefore, the Wuxi Wanda Cultural Exhibition Center owes its shape to the local tradition of making clay objects.
Property developer The Wanda Group explained that the teapot-shaped architectural design was chosen to honor the famous earthenware vessels for which the region is famous.
As a result, we got a structure with an area of 3.4 million square meters. meters.
Outside, the building is sheathed with aluminum sheets, which provide the necessary curvature of the frame. In addition to them, glass stained-glass windows of various sizes play an important role.
The Wuxi authorities, trying to attract as many tourists as possible, erected a large-scale "tourist city", something like a public park, and one of its main attractions and became an exhibition center in the shape of a teapot. Its construction cost $6.4 billion.
On the territory of the complex there are: a shopping center, a stage show, an open theme park, a hotel, a bar quarter, a 3D interactive cinema, where films based on ancient local myths are shown. The plans were (maybe already opened and working): an indoor water park and two roller coasters, which may be the highest and fastest in the country.
The firm "Wanda", which designed the whole wonder, says it will one day become "a rival to Disneyland," and that doesn't seem like an empty threat given the scale of what they plan to achieve there.
The Exhibition Center has a magenta color, a traditional shade of local handmade clay teapots. It has a spherical shape with a hole in the middle lined with glass. The diameter of the structure is 50 m, the height is 38.8 m, and the total area is 5000 sq. m. For the exterior of the building, aluminum siding and glass were used. By its appearance it is difficult to understand how many floors there are in the "kettle", but there are three of them. There are several toy figurines on either side of the main entrance with a low staircase.
A special aura gives the teapot building its location on a small hill near the river bank. In the evening, the center is illuminated by night lighting, which gives it a surreal look.
What's inside the teapot?
There is a center for cultural exhibitions here. Since, in fact, the "teapot" is the heart of the "tourist city", all visitors begin their walk around the recreation area with it.
Inside, you will find a permanent exhibition of locally produced teapots that gave the idea for the building project, a high-tech movable sand table, miniature attractions. Other exhibitions are temporary and very diverse: from exhibitions of painting and folk art to contemporary art-house productions and unexpected performances. On the ground floor, in a small cafe, you can relax over a cup of Chinese tea with fresh pastries.
Here is such an unusual, non-standard, beautiful, modern exhibition complex.
