CASUA in China
We look for inspiration everywhere. This time during a visit to our sister company OBERMEYER CHINA, which entered the Chinese market as a designer of production plants for the Porsche car company. Now it is mainly dedicated to expanding China's megapolises and building modern infrastructure. Our footsteps led us to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, where we were absorbed by modern Chinese architecture. In Hong Kong, we rode the world's longest escalator (800m), which connects the city centre to the quieter residential area. We walked through the station hall under the architectural icon Standard Chartered Bank Building, which dominates the other high-rise buildings in the financial district, and admired the steep streets leading to the harbour. In Shenzhen, we were enchanted by Lianhuashan Park, which overlooks the wings of Shenzhen City Hall. One of the fastest growing cities in the world also boasts several buildings by Zaha Hadid. We admired Shanghai from 632 metres up on the tallest building in all of China - the Shanghai Tower. We viewed the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the skyscraper of the Shanghai World Trade Center, near The Bund waterfront, in neon colors as we took a nighttime cruise along the Huangpu River. The architect's eye danced at the sight of the curves of the National Theatre building in Beijing, nicknamed the "giant egg", and you see the shape of the building twice, the real building and its perfect reflection on the water.
For a European, Chinese architecture is breathtaking, futuristic and vast, but somehow close. Not surprisingly, most modern high-rise buildings in China today are designed by European architects.
