It was 740 years ago when the legendary Italian merchant Marco Polo set off on his epic journey to China. And now, once again in 2011, Italian architectural firm AM Progetti has joined in a collaboration with Shanghai’s TJAD (Tongji Architectual Design Institute), to design the ambitiously scaled (and touted to be the world’s largest) Shanghai International Design Center. Combining vernacular Chinese elements along with exotic Italian features, the grand project is being envisaged as a cultural landmark with ecofriendly attributes.
Comprising of three conspicuous towers ‘bound’ at their base by a volumetric spatial element, the design will incorporate around a whopping 300,000 sq m. The imposing entrance (incidentally named as Marco Polo’s door) will be formed by two towers facing each other, on the western side of the mega structure. This expansive design element will epitomize the harmony among countries, which plays an intrinsic part in the spatial character of the building.
The main volume of the design center will be defined by stacks of superimposed ‘green’ terraces. These spaces will be zoned into a myriad of user defined areas (both recreational and administrative) such as hotel, museum, library, and offices. All of them will be bordered by green landscape at their own individual level. Moreover, to accentuate upon the degree of accessibility, there will be a specially conceived artistic garden along with a commercial gallery. These expansive areas will dually act as a collective zone for the public, as well as a sort of volumetric segregation from the outdoor cityscape.
