Architecture to recover Shanghai memory. ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects
12/09/2023.
[Shanghai] China
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO
metalocus, ANDRÉS BLANCO
Rockbund Tower 6 (with a listed three-story façade of the former Andrews & George Building, 1887), on the edge of the Rockbund development, marked the completion of the entire Rockbund Project, a collection of eleven historic buildings (now offices, hotels, apartments, and commercial spaces), putting an end to 15 years of works commissioned to David Chipperfield Architects.
The Rockbund Project, which includes a variety of colonial buildings, is an operation designed by an international study team to revitalize the urban fabric of the northern part of the Bund through the construction of offices, hotels, apartments, and commercial spaces. In 2006, David Chipperfield Architects was commissioned to renovate and convert eleven buildings dating from the period 1897-1932.
The Rockbund Project, which includes a variety of colonial buildings, is an operation designed by an international study team to revitalize the urban fabric of the northern part of the Bund through the construction of offices, hotels, apartments, and commercial spaces. In 2006, David Chipperfield Architects was commissioned to renovate and convert eleven buildings dating from the period 1897-1932.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Christian Richters.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Christian Richters.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges.
Site plan. ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
General elevation. ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Christian Richters
Shanghai became a major commercial and cultural center of East Asia after the establishment of international trade relations in 1842, with the Treaty of Nanking. It was a turning point in the history of the city, allowing the arrival of European businesses and architecture influenced by consulates at the beginning of the 20th century, giving rise to a unique construction style with red bricks and Art Deco style characterized by a mixture of West and East. There are many examples along the Bund, on the western bank of the Huangpu River.
David Chipperfield Architects thoroughly cleaned and repaired façades without destroying historic features or original stonework. The concept was to give the buildings the dignity they had lost over time. Efforts were made to recover the original structures by eliminating extensions, extensions, and modifications. Of the group of restored buildings, the special attention paid to the rehabilitation of the old Andrews & George building, renamed Rockbund 6, stands out, a three-story construction, whose facades were protected and on which an eleven-story tower grows.
David Chipperfield Architects thoroughly cleaned and repaired façades without destroying historic features or original stonework. The concept was to give the buildings the dignity they had lost over time. Efforts were made to recover the original structures by eliminating extensions, extensions, and modifications. Of the group of restored buildings, the special attention paid to the rehabilitation of the old Andrews & George building, renamed Rockbund 6, stands out, a three-story construction, whose facades were protected and on which an eleven-story tower grows.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian
Also noteworthy are the renovations and extensions to the National Industrial Bank (NIB) and the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) can be seen from Museum Square, a courtyard located southwest of the area of intervention. The new facades of both volumes have been rendered with "Shanghai plaster," with the same quality of finishes that the neighboring buildings present.
The former RAS Building, once China’s first public museum, now houses the Rockbund Art Museum, with a collection focused on contemporary art. The renovated Art Déco building shows a sequence of flexible spaces that can take in objects of different sizes and display a large variety of artistic expressions, especially in the atrium that connects the various floor levels.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges.
Project description by David Chipperfield Architects
ROCKBUND is a collection of historic buildings located in the former European concession, just to the north of the world-famous Bund in central Shanghai. The buildings form a continuous street front along the eastern side of Yuanmingyuan Road and reflect the diversity of the colonial architecture of this period, in which European building styles were combined with Asian elements. ROCKBUND has seen the revitalization of this area by a team of international architects. It accommodates offices, apartments, café, restaurants, and retail premises while opening the area up to the grand urban gesture of the riverfront and its public park. David Chipperfield Architects was commissioned to restore, upgrade, and convert eleven historic buildings within this wider development.
The aim of the restoration concept was to present buildings that have aged with dignity and style. During the course of their history, the buildings had undergone various changes and adaptations. These were removed, and the buildings returned to their former state. The façades were carefully cleaned and repaired without destroying the original fabric. Existing structures within the roof area of some buildings were expanded in reaction to contemporary changes in usage.
The extensions to the National Industrial Bank and the Royal Asiatic Society Building are visible from the inner courtyard located in the south-west of the block. The new façades have been rendered using ‘Shanghai Plaster’ of the same quality as that used on the adjoining buildings. The Royal Asiatic Society Building, once China’s first public museum, now houses the Rockbund Art Museum – a museum of contemporary art. Inside the Art Deco-style building, the newly created flexible areas enable a range of different presentation concepts, and the volumes of the upper floors have been spatially linked through the creation of a new atrium.
ROCKBUND project by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Fangfang Tian.
The historic three-story listed façade of ZA·Andrews & George Building has been preserved and renovated, and eleven stories have been added in the form of stacked masonry construction. This new red brick tower forms a strong marker at the edge of the development, blending the historic urban fabric with the new high-rise city beyond.
The complex has been going up in phases: the Rockbund Art Museum was opened in 2010, and the restoration works on the façades of the historic buildings were completed in 2011. The shell and core of Andrews & George Tower were completed in 2021; subsequently, David Chipperfield Architects was further commissioned to design the interior of its lobby and the landscape of the inside alleys of the street block. The sequence of alleys connects the inner squares that are formed between the historic buildings along the east and new residential buildings along the west. As the final addition to ROCKBUND, it aims to transform these traditionally internal leftover areas into an extension of the overall public program and urban interface while offering flexible space for different public events and functions. The entire ROCKBUND is completed in September 2023, which also marks the end of 17 years of work by David Chipperfield Architects.
More information
Architects
David Chipperfield Architects. David Chipperfield Architects Berlin and Shanghai. Partners.- David Chipperfield, Mark Randel, Libin Chen.
Lutz Schütter (Preparation and brief, Concept design), Thomas Spranger (Developed design, Design intent details, Site design supervision), Chuxiao Li and Thomas Benk (Site design supervision).
Lutz Schütter (Preparation and brief, Concept design), Thomas Spranger (Developed design, Design intent details, Site design supervision), Chuxiao Li and Thomas Benk (Site design supervision).
Project team
Markus Bauer, Kamlesh Bava, Mirjam von Busch, Belinda Chan, Andrea García Crespo, Maryla Duleba, Maik Engler, Dirk Gschwind, Michael Haverland, Frithjof Kahl, Fabian Körner, Nicolas Kulemeyer, Maoxue Li, Dahlia Liksaite, Fernando Gomez Martinez, Adrian Peach, Ilona Priwitzer, Martin Reichert, Mariska Rohde, Fransziska Rusch, Gunda Schulz, Lijun Shen, Daniel Sommer, Daniela Voss, Jiaying Wang, Boris Wolf, Liping Xu, Jiacong Yang.
Collaborators
China Construction Design International, Shenzen (New buildings), Shanghai Zhang Ming Architectural Design Firm (Historic buildings).
Landscape architect.- Levin Monsigny Landschaftsarchitekten
Lighting consultant.- Brandston Partnership Inc., Schlothfeldt Lichtplaner (Rockbund Art Museum).
Landscape architect.- Levin Monsigny Landschaftsarchitekten
Lighting consultant.- Brandston Partnership Inc., Schlothfeldt Lichtplaner (Rockbund Art Museum).
Client
Shanghai Bund de Rockefeller Group Master Development Co. Ltd.
Area
GFA.- 47,400m².
Dates
Project start.- 2006.
Construction start.- 2009.
Completion.- 2023.
Construction start.- 2009.
Completion.- 2023.
Location
Huangpu, Waitan, 虎丘路20号 邮政编码: 200085. Shanghai, China.
Photography
Fangfang Tian, Simon Menges, Christian Richters.
David Chipperfield
David Chipperfield was born in London in 1953 and studied architecture at the Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London before working at the practices of Douglas Stephen, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster.
In 1985 he founded David Chipperfield Architects, which today has over 300 staff at its offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai.
David Chipperfield has taught and held conferences in Europe and the United States and has received honorary degrees from the universities of Kingston and Kent.
He is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and an honorary fellow of both the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA). In 2009 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 2010 he received a knighthood for services to architecture in the UK and Germany. In 2011 he received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture and in 2013 the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association, while in 2021 he was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in recognition of a lifetime’s work.
In 2012 he curated the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.
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