People’s Daily’s New Headquarters Is More Than A Little Phallic

People’s Daily new headquarters penis
There's phallic -- the Washington Monument, skyscrapers, ice cream drumsticks -- and then there's penis. Behold the above, purportedly the new headquarters of People's Daily. As Hug China explains: Pictures of the People’s Daily new headquarters that is under furnishing at the moment have gone viral on Chinese social media. One of the picture taken by a netizen from a special angle on April 11 when the top part of the building was framed with construction racks makes the construction look like a colossal human male genital.

A Building In Killzone: Shadow Fall For PS4 Bears An Uncanny Resemblance To Beijing’s Galaxy SOHO

Kill Zone 4 vs Galaxy SOHO
While checking out coverage of the “invisible console” unveiling of the Playstation 4 in New York, I was struck by a familiar sight. No, not Diablo III. During the gameplay footage of Killzone 4, I recognized a certain oft-blighted building here in Beijing. Amidst the the civil unrest between the Helghest and Vektan loomed the unmistakeable curves and orbs of... Read more »

Has Construction Begun On Shanghai’s Ridiculous Subterranean Luxury Hotel?

InterContinental Shimao Wonderland 2
The proposed 19-story, 5-star waterfall quarry hotel near Tianmashan Mountain in Songjiang district, Shanghai, is apparently happening, maybe. First proposed six and a half years ago, when the firm Atkins won the rights to design something called the InterContinental Shimao Wonderland, the project caused major buzz in international media — though it’s been little more... Read more »

Cool: Architect Steven Holl’s Yin-Yang Inspired Tianjin Museums

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Sculptural concrete museums. That’s what these Tianjin buildings are, according to Fast Company’s Co.Design website, specifically “the exact inverse of each other, like a key and a lock, or a pair of interlocking puzzle pieces.” The designer is international award-winning architect Steven Holl, who’s no stranger to Chinese projects. Last month he completed what Co.Design’s Kelsey... Read more »

Introducing, In China: A Perfect Cut Of Aesthetic Hell

Chinese townhouses in Hainan
Our analysis of this tenement precinct found in Lingshui county, Hainan province begins with the seminal modernist architect Louis Sullivan's famous phrase "form follows function." Buildings should be designed with their purpose in mind, and so it is philosophically laid out here, in this neighborhood, that the purpose of all human life is to sprout like a blade of grass out of red dirt, sway in the wind, and die. All joy is subsumed by the reality of existing. Not one wasted word is spent. You are because you are. Accept it, for residents of Dadun Village are all engaged in the process of death or already dead.

Chinese Company Insists It Needs Just 90 Days To Complete World’s Tallest Building

Sky City blueprint
In June, a company called Broad Sustainable Building went on the record as saying it would build, starting in November, the world’s tallest skyscraper in just 90 days. Sky City, located in Changsha, Hunan province, will be a 220-story behemoth standing 2,749 feet (838 meters) when complete, 10 meters higher than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa… which... Read more »

Who Needs The Nobel Prize In Literature When China Can Get Its Equivalent In ARCHITECTURE?

Wang Shu wins Pritzker Architecture Prize
Kick-ass Wang Shu won the best fucking award ever yesterday, picked by a bunch of nearly-as-awesome dudes for building kick-ass shit and being generally kick-ass-ish. Step aside, Frank Gehry. Step aside, Tadao Ando. Step aside, Renzo Piano, if that is your real name. And what the heck does Eduardo Souto de Moura even mean? The... Read more »