"A figurative concept, and its materialization in the design, has almost become a pre-requisite to win any large-scale project in China these days," the author continued, adding "To name a few more included in this book: Paul Andreu's National Grand Theater in Beijing has a large bubble 'heaven' hovering above the 'earth' of the theaters, which we might see as a depiction of the Chinese cosmos...; another Chinese 'cosmos' is the Shanghai Opera House (1994-1998) by Arte Charpentier et Associés, which has a curved top and cubic square fbdy...;' the Beijing International airport (under construction) by Foster and Partners, albeit sleek and high-tech, is (according to the architects) a flying 'dragon"....; and the Jimnao Tower (1997-1999) in Shanghai by SOM is a Chinese pagoda, so the architects argue, thought it is clad with intricate metal frames and shining glass....Other figurative motifs are not overtly Chinese, but they do appear to have won the hearts of the Chinese: Zaha Hadid's Guangzhou Opera House (under construction) (see an illustration of it in The City Review article on an Hadid exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York) is comprised of 'pebble stones' washed smooth by the city's Pearl River..., and the Shanghai Pudong International Airport (1999) by Paul Andreu is a 'seagull' ready to spread its wings. Beijings's Olympic National Stadium (under construction) by Herzog and de Meuron, perhaps the most glamorous project so far conceived, is a gigantic 'bird's nest'; and the 'Watercube' National Swimming Center, designed by PTW, China State Construction Engineering Corporation and Arup....is a transparent crystal cell structure, although the architects have tried to argue the the square plan is Chinese."
Here's part of the author's commentary on the French architect's design:
"The theater is located immediately to the west of the Great Hall of the People on Changan Avenue, the symbolic spine of Beijing running from east to west across the city's south-north imperial axis of Tiananmen Square and the formal imperial palace of the Forbidden City. The design comprises a gigantic glass sphere hovering above the water in a large pond, and this sphere has an east-to-west span of 213 meters, with a 144-meter north-to-south span, and the height is 46 meters, which is exactly the same height as the Great Hall of the People. No doubt the arhitect would have used this to counter criticism that his futurist 'blob' does not fit the neo-Classical context, but this, more than anything, is where opinion is dividided. A feature of the design is its entry tunnel under the artificial lake, as the complex is sunken below ground level. This tunnel, according to the architect, allows preparation with space and time for entering the theater. The curved earthy-red masonry wall - the only reminder of the Forbidden City across the road - naturally leads to the underwater tunnel. Surely it will be a fascinating experience to go through the glazed tunnel as if a fish swmming in the lake, which, in my frivolous imagination, would serve as a purifying ritual for people entering from a delirious consumer's world to acquire some culture. No so frivolous is a figurative nickname for the titanium-clad sphere from the Chinese: the 'eggshell.'....Three separate buildings, the central opera house, the concert hall and the theater - are covered by the 'eggshell,' and the space between the shell and these buildings naturally becomes the concourse....Although an egg has a universal symbolic connotation of fertility (and it is no exception for the Chinese), Wolfram Eberhard reminds us that one school of antique Chinese astronomy actually believes that the cosmos is egg-shapped."
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