The Peninsula Shanghai is the Bund’s first new building in over 60 years. We spoke with architect David Beer who was given the daunting task of designing it...

How much pressure did you feel to ‘get it right’?
“The responsibility of designing the first new building on the Bund in over 60 years was immense. The challenge to design a large mixed-use project that would complement and not jar with the other Bund buildings was a unique problem in itself. The look of the hotel tower had to be very carefully studied in the context of the historic Bund ensemble of buildings, with a low rise wing on the boulevard that echoed the height and scale of the other buildings and a taller tower further back that allowed the full program to be included.”

What was the biggest challenge you faced?
“It was to design a Deco-like facade as dictated by the city and the client and also to incorporate very wide windows to maximize the views. Wide windows are not part of the Deco vocabulary, but the use of a variety of window sizes is very much part of it and the result is a building that does not look like a copy, a pastiche, but is a 21st-century reflection of the glorious 1920s and 30s architecture without being so much a recreation of the past. We also favored river views for all rooms, but of course we had a height limit on the Bund, so it wasn’t physically possible.”

Are you happy with how it turned out?
“I’m sure that there will be certain small details that will upset me… the shape of an awning, the size of a light fixture. But we must remember that a hotel is not a monument which requires absolute perfection. A hotel is a place to relax, be stimulated, entertained and most importantly, it should be a place that feels comfortable and welcoming. The Peninsula always achieves this with their hotels, and I hope I’ve even exceeded their highest standards with this building.”

A look back at the tower that defined reemerging Shanghai

Camp, pink, polarizing and utterly iconic, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower celebrates its fifteenth birthday this year.

A flamboyant statement of Shanghai’s aspirations to reclaim its position as Asia’s preeminent city, it’s a building which is difficult to be ambivalent about.

Satirist PJ O’Rourke described it as: “A Russian Orthodox church of the twenty-eighth century, or a launch vehicle for a pair of Houston Astrodomes, or a humongous shish kebab that lost everything but two onions in a barbeque fire.” But that certainly hasn’t stopped an unending stream of adoring tourists, photographers and writers lavishing it with attention over the past decade and a half.

We caught up with Eric Ullmann of design firm Duncan Miller Ullmann to talk about the fabulous art deco interior of the Langham hotel...

It’s great to see a new hotel attempt to echo the grace and grandeur of Shanghai high society in the 1930s. How did you go about this?
We approach every interior with a signature design – unique, personal, and memorable. The Langham Yangtze Boutique Hotel represents the Paris of the East and captures the rich heritage of the property, the region, and the era through a true Boutique Experience.

2010 will see the completion of the CITIC Financial Center, Mandarin Hotel, Spa & Residences on the former site of the Shanghai shipyard. The building has entered the final stages of construction: the twin towers will top out at the end of this month, with the hotel opening a little later in 2011. We caught up with chief architect Bernardo Fort-Brescia of international firm Arquitectonica (known simply as ARQ) to talk about the CITC building and other ARQ buildings in Shanghai…

What was the brief given to ARQ regarding CITIC?
There was no brief but there was a site with history. The Shanghai shipyards had had an important presence on the riverfront for two centuries. We felt that the buildings should be a monument to their contribution to the city. The two rise in symmetry and on axis with the main slip that led to the drydock. The buildings form a void in the shape of the missing hull. The space between them becomes the figure and the towers are the ground. The figural roles are reversed.

Fortune Gate's distinctive roof has some calling it 'Elvis'

Elvis has not left the building. Not this one, anyway. The unmissable roof of the 30-storey Fortune Gate building in Jing'an has earned it the nickname of the 'Elvis hairdo' or simply 'Elvis.' But Fortune Gate has precious little to do with Elvis. It does, however, have something to do with Möbius, the German mathematician. The building's top is based on the concept of the Möbius strip – a three-dimensional object with only one surface – hence it's other nickname, Möbius Tower. Australian architect James Brearley, founder of Shanghai-based firm Bau-Brearley, came up with the idea after being brought in late to the project, which had already been through two sets of architects. He needed to work fast – construction on Fortune Gate had already begun…