Mainland architects build demand

The mainland has one of the world's most impressive collections of new buildings - the Bird's Nest stadium, CCTV tower, the recently opened China World Tower and the towering Shanghai World Financial Centre, to name just four - and not surprisingly its architects are becoming increasingly in demand worldwide.

Beijing-based Ma Yansong's innovative designs have begun to make waves internationally - he was commissioned to design the Absolute Tower in Toronto, a building with curves that have earned it the nickname the Marilyn Monroe Tower. Two other projects on Ma's books are the twisting Urban Forest building in Chongqing, which has platforms at selected levels to house plants and trees and, in the resort city of Beihai, a waterfront residential building that resembles a giant glass roller coaster.

Another architectural firm making waves is Neri & Hu Research and Design Office (NHRDO), headed by Lyndon Neri, a Filipino of Chinese ancestry and his Taiwanese wife, Rossana Hu. Neri first came to Shanghai to work on the groundbreaking Three on the Bund project and ended up starting an architectural and design studio in the city.

NHRDO's projects have been so eye-catching that offers for work regularly pour in from all over the country and overseas asking the firm to design hotels, offices and private homes. Neri says the attitude towards mainland-based architects is changing.

'China architects are increasingly seen as more adventurous, as opposed to cheaper. A different mentality is emerging.

'We are seen as different and avant-garde, and forward-thinking. People are seeking our company out: we have been commissioned for up to six projects in Europe. It is an exciting time to be in China with so much on the go.'

He believes this creative trend in mainland architecture will expand throughout the country.

'In the future, the secondary cities in China will become more adventurous. Once the major cities become successful, they will become conservative and exploration of new kinds of architecture will slow. As an example, we are doing a hotel in Zhengzhou [Henan province] which has a novel design. If I proposed this design in Shanghai, I would be run out of town.'

Neri specialises in adapting historical Chinese buildings for modern-day use. His firm recently converted a dilapidated Shanghai warehouse into a boutique hotel, the Waterhouse.

'It is a new way of looking at hotels, there is a blurring between private and public spaces, where you can look into the restaurants, and other rooms, from the bedrooms,' Neri says. 'You don't see that kind of experimentation with new ideas in Europe or the United States.'

The mainland's latest skyscraper to be competed is the China World Tower, now the highest building in Beijing at 80 storeys, or 330 metres high. Its upper levels house the China World Summit Wing, a 287-room hotel with stunning views.

On a clear day, the building's 81st floor observation deck offers a chance to see Beijing's architectural marvels, both ancient and modern: immediately below is the striking silver CCTV tower; to the north is the Bird's Nest stadium; and to the west is the Forbidden City, a Ming Dynasty marvel that remains the world's largest structure some 500 years after it was built.