Lujiazui Harbour City Exhibition Centre
In March 2017, the architecture and design firm OMA released plans for a new exhibition centre in Shanghai.
Located on one of the most photographed waterfronts in the world, along the Huangpu River, the Lujiazui Harbour City Exhibition Centre occupies the site of the former Shanghai Shipyard, which has a long history of shipbuilding industry.
The new exhibition centre is positioned on the ramp of a former ship cradle and provides a concentrated event space within the surrounding financial district.
According to OMA, they conceived the exhibition centre as a ‘spatial armature’, suspended above a plaza and connected to another exhibition space beneath the ramp.
The building gives structure to the open space, adding new programmatic opportunities for film screenings, fashion shows, and concerts. The new volume transforms the existing ramp into a large-scale theatrical space for events while the covered plaza under the elevated box can be used for more intimate events.
The aim of the design is to ‘establish a dialogue with the site’s industrial past’ through the building’s materiality and architecture; a mysterious object wrapped in a metallic mesh exposes its steel structure, echoing the unfinished ship hulls which used to populate the site.
OMA were appointed by Lujiazui Central Financial District (Phase II) Development Corporation to design and execute the building in November 2014.
Content and images courtesy of OMA.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
Celebrating architecture's eloquent champions.
Unusual perspectives on 1960s’ thinking.
AI and the challenges to intellectual property
The legal landscape of adopting AI now and in the future.
Worrying landscape for Welsh construction SMEs revealed.
In recent risk factor analysis report completed by CIOB.
Construction Sport survey highlights risks of dehydration
Supporting construction workers to avoid dangers.
Can your business afford to ignore mental well-being?
£70 - 100 billion annually in UK construction sector.
Mental health in the construction industry
World Mental Health Day 10 October.
Construction awards provide relief in wake of ISG collapse
Spike in major infrastructure awards, housing up but short of targets, are ISG collapse impacts yet to come.
Biodiversity net gain with related updates and terms
Only 0.5% of applications subject to BNG in the context significant proposed changes to planning.
As political power has shifted from blue to red
Has planning now moved from brown to green?
The role of construction in tackling the biodiversity crisis
New CIOB Nature of Building digital series available now.
The Nature Towns and Cities initiative
Grants of up to 1 million for local councils and partners.
The continued ISG fall out October updates
Where to look for answers to frequently asked questions.
Building safety remediation programme for Wales
With 2024 October progress updates.
In major support package for small businesses.
Conservation and transformation
Reading Ruskin’s cultural heritage. Book review.