Location: Suzhou, China.

Architect: Christian de Portzamparc.

The Suzhou Bay Cultural Center is part of a series of landmark projects initiated by the city through the Wujiang Lakefront Masterplan. Christian de Portzamparc discovered the deserted plain in 2013, and it was built quickly. The program had two parts: music and performance halls on one side, and museums and pedagogical places on the other. Christian de Portzamparc chose to connect the two wings on the roof to create an arch visible from afar on the pedestrian axis. The two loops of the ribbon cover the esplanade where the pedestrian axis meets the lake.

Christian de Portzamparc has designed a cultural center that connects the water and city in a play of iridescent reflections. The center includes a 1,600-seat opera house, 600-seat modular hall, two museums, an exhibition center, a convention center, cafes, restaurants, cinemas, as well as shopping malls, on a total surface area of 215,000 m2. The ribbon is made of steel and aluminum and has a 40 meters high path from which one can view the city and the lake.

Photo credit: Feng Shao.