Anticipating the Himalaya Art Center's opening and Eye to Eye's inclusion into the Permanent Collection

Developed by the Zendai Group, the owner, Mr. Dai Zhi Kang, has placed significant emphasis on making this hotel a living, thriving display of Chinese art. The building itself was designed by Arata Isozaki, designer of the Barcelona Olympic Stadium, and interiors by KCA International, of Burj al Arab fame. “The Himalayas Centre will be an iconic development in Shanghai. The Zendai Art Hotel promises to be unique in its artistic vision and what it has to offer. It is ideally located for business as well as leisure travellers,” said Mark Simmons, Area Managing Director – Asia, Preferred Hotel Group.“What makes this hotel unique is the artistic influence on its’ interiors. From the installation art in the lobby (an impressive piece named “Heaven & Chi” that will illuminate the 260 square meter ceiling from dawn to dusk with a changing skyscape of clouds, sun and moon) to the multi media projection at the reception desk, every aspect of the hotel’s interiors will allow guests to experience the fascinating art of China,” Hotel General Manager Mr. Graham Kiy explains.

http://resorts.luxuo.com/2009/07/shanghais-zendai-art-hotel-joins.html

Zendai Himalayan Art Center is planed at Pudong district, which is named to be a symbol of the recent economic growth of Shanghai. The frontage of the site is occupied by the International Exposition Center that will be the world biggest messe after its completion, and this art center is also requested to hold events in international scale，in coniunction with this messe facility in the near future．
The floor area of this facility is about 155，000sqm．From outside，it appears to be configured with three wing of buildings；a hotel wing，a museum／multi—purpose hall wing，a design center wing．The Hotel Wing consists of 450 guest rooms in five-star class hotel service．and the Design Center Wing houses commercial establishments, rental offices, and exhibition spaces for modem art.

The inside of the Museum／Multi—purpose Hall Wing is composed with curved surface structures corresponding to the exterior,consisting of a multi-purpose hall with the capacity of 2,000 people for various types of events，a modem art museum，and the enhance lobby space for those programs．From the early stage of this project，it was repeatedly reviewed and discussed how the requirement of the functionalities in varied characteristics (a hotel space，office spaces，a department store，a museum，a multi-purpose hall)are distributed to configure the building，since it was aimed to provide a sequential，unified facility rather than simply layering each functionality as an individual segment．
As a result．three wings are connected at 1 6．2m above the ground to share this single enormous space，and those facilities of the Modern Art Museum，the Multi-purpose Hall，and a large. scale banquet hall are allocated side by side．

There are two types of exhibition rooms provided in the Modern Art Museum．in the form. of a white cube room finside of the Design Center Wing)and a curvilinear room．(inside of the Museum／Multi-purpose Hall Wing)The stage area of the Multi-purpose Hall is partially taken into the Hotel Wing and juxtaposed to the Large Banquet Hall．
Those three varied functionalities are assumed to be used individually,but they can also be utilized as a continuous space if required by an event．This floor is intended as the central area of the art activities of this facility．
The vertical circulations provided inside of the facility from the outside and the ground level to the floor at 1 6．2 m are escalators．It is intended to produce unexpected encounters of the hotel，of-rices，department store visitors to the art activities during the circulation movements to other areas inside of the building．

Upper side of the building places the hotel guest rooms housed in a cubic form. and the office spaces in swastika configuration，enclosed with curtain walls．
The lower side with the Hotel Wing，the Design Center Wing is covered with screens in a marble like material．These screens are derived from Chinese characters as motifs，and designed by decomposing and recomposing the compositional elements of Chinese characters．

The Museum／Multi-purpose Hall Wing directly reflects the curvilinear structure，which is reminiscent of Taihu Rocks produced at a limited area of JiangNan region．
This Zendai Himalayan Art Center rendered as a hvbrid of those various design elements is expected to become a new symbol of Pudong district，projected to be open in 2009．

http://www.chinese-architecture.com/zendai-himalayan-art-centerarata-isozaki.html