From RCA website
"One client, for the Shanghai Zendai Himalayas Art Centre in Shanghai, obtained a good site from the government provided he included cultural facilities in the development. ‘I was interested to see if it is possible to support the museum with commercial functions like hotels, shopping and offices… normally they would be separate buildings, but I did not want to separate them, as a kind of hybrid where from the outside the functions are made visible through different shapes.’
The principle of using commercial development to fund cultural institutions, he says, has some similarities with the Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo. But there, he explains, ‘all the functions come together in one big volume which looks the same from the outside. It is one very small museum in a very big development, maybe two per cent of the whole project… in mine [the amount of space devoted to culture] will be 20 per cent. If this goes on it will be another type of model for an art museum today, but everyone knows it is very difficult.’ "
1 comment:
I believe that Xintiandi near Huaihai Road is a somewhat similar representation of Isozaki's beliefs and objectives. As the place is a combination of commercialism and aesthetics, though primarily focused on commercialism, it is symbolic and representative that Shanghai is developing into a global city with characteristics that incorporate not only the economic and development zeal and goals of the government but also the private and individualistic interests.
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