Credit: ZHANG Si-ye

Shanghai Cultural Plaza

In Shanghai's historic Luwan District, BBB has transformed a 6.45-hectare site into a landscaped cultural park, including a new 2,000-seat theater with a geometrically complex envelope design.

BBB won an international design competition for the redevelopment of a full-block site in central Shanghai's largest historic preservation area in the former French Concession. As one of the signature projects undertaken by the Chinese government for the 2010 World Expo, BBB developed the site as a city park with a below-ground theater as its centerpiece. Water and pathways flow around the theater complex, with the fluid lines of its architecture serving to soften its presence within the park. At the center of the complex's lobby is a crystalline glass and steel funnel that flows from the roof to the lobby's floor, symbolizing the importance of water in Chinese culture and in the development of Shanghai. The program also includes the adaptive reuse of several historic buildings, including a unique long-span structure, parking, and subway station access.

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