Pictures

New Chongqing Skyscraper Design Derided by Chinese Netizens

by on Monday, January 2, 2012 41 comments comments

Chongqing Ren Ren building to be built in 2013.

From iFeng & NetEase:

Chongqing to build a new “人人” ["People"] shaped skyscraper

Summary: At Danzishi on the south bank of the Yangtze River in Nanan district of Chongqing city is a new building whose outer shape resembles the two [Chinese] characters of “人人” ["people people"]. This architectural design has a height of 280 meters, with the design of the building using the Chongqing city’s “人人重庆” ["Everyone Chongqing"] symbol/logo as reference,  and is a multi-purpose building combining restaurants, entertainment, leisure, and other functions. This building is expected to formally begin construction in 2013.

The two “people” when arranged this way also resembles the character qing character (庆) in Chongqing.

Ren Ren Chongqing logo.

Comments from NetEase:

我用脚投票 [网易加拿大网友]:

Looks a lot like Titanic‘s signature pose.

投胎时选择了挑战模式 [网易福建省网友]:

In welcoming 2012, at this important moment, I would like to wish: all corrupt officials, false experts, beastly teachers, and various liars, that your families die without descendents and that you suffer a horrible death.

有事找大哥19260817 [网易重庆市网友]:

Truly bursting with ugliness.

扫黄办老黄 [网易上海市网友]:

Asshole building.

ibm9012 [网易广东省手机网友]:

I’m being naughty, the first thing I thought when I saw the picture was: There’s a new pose for my girlfriend and I, Titanic style.

网易辽宁省大连市网友:

Whoever lives in the crotch unit will be blessed. Every time they open the window and stick their head out during summer, all of Chongqing will be laughing!!!!!!

网易贵州省手机网友:

Extremely ugly, a man and a woman in an embrace, doing what?

网易湖北省武汉市手机网友:

Extremely garish! Truly no sense of taste, what a waste of money!

干广东肥料的女马妹 [网易中国网友]:

Can it be uglier? The appearance and design of the CCTV building is actually very good, and those netizens who criticize it probably aren’t really questioning the design. However, it can be imagined just how miserable the designer for this building is, definitely having designed it according to the ideas of the government leaders. Fuck.

  • hooots

    Wow. That’s terrible. Whoever designed this is not allowed on the sofa.

    • Duce

      It looks a bit gay but it is certainly a nice design.

      • Boris

        Gay?!?!
        Gay would be a two-hundred storey black rubber-clad phallus, with a fountain in the tip spurting plumes of yoghurt up into the stratosphere every hour on the hour -and all day on October 1st.
        Security wouldn’t be an issue: in the event of a terrorist attack, planes would simply bounce off it.

        • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

          I see. Even though such a thing would undoubtably cost lots of money, the hourly yoghurt eruptions would make money shots consistently.

      • Joe

        >nice design
        I would have to disagree… It looks like one of those early 90s monstrosities.

  • hooots

    The architects aren’t completely to blame. My mom is a designer and it is so common for the people in charge to scan over dozens of designs before choosing the most terrible design which was only created to appease the bosses. Then they change it seven times only to settle on something so distant from what the designer (the person who actually knows what the fuck they are doing) would have preferred. Designers gotta get paid too.

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      Yes, architects are just like everybody else who wants to be paid for doing a crappy job with no effort or care.

      If only we can lower our expectations! Think of the children and the disappointment they will face if this ambition runs unchecked!

  • Foreign Devil

    Wow, nobody has money to blow like China and Dubai! Except Dubai does it with a little bit more class.

    • marsvin

      You know you’re in trouble when even Dubai is keeping it more classy than you.

  • robin yates

    this looks like a very expensive joke. Horrible in everyway

  • mr. weiner

    A good thing I wasn’t drinking bubble tea when I saw this. So difficult to shoot one of those balls out your nose when you are laughing so hard.

  • GodsHammer

    I’m in awe of this proposed monstrosity. What an eyesore that will be.

  • dim mak

    LOOKS LIKE PI

    • snicker

      Looks like Gou pi

  • Dat Ankle

    I hope they scrap the idea before its too late.

  • Cocori

    Amazing China, looks so bad

  • Jess

    I actually don’t think it’s “entirely” awful. As far as ugly skyscrapers go, this is far from being the worst. But it seems that all the second-tier Chinese cities are trying to catch up with the Shanghai skyline…and just not doing a very good job of it. Chongqing has a nice river thing going on. It would be nice if someone could incorporate that into the city’s architecture, rather than…you know, building random ugly stuff that could be constructed anywhere…

  • Will I Am

    Can someone please add the three road guys to this picture?

  • typingfromwork

    It doesn’t look so bad on the above picture, but then it’s an artist’s impression so how it looks in real life would be up for debate. From past experiences with these things it will likely look aweful.

    As far as garish buildings are concerned I have never seen anything worse than the Grand Lisboa in Macau. It’s so top heavy it looks like it’s going to topple any second. Also it was fun to line up the cannons in a nearby tourist fort onto it for photo purposes.

    Then again, I thought the Oriental pearl tower was an architectural disaster but it has become an icon. Stranger things have happened.

    ps. the 人人 becoming 庆 thing is cool for a logo, maybe not so much for an entire building.

    • errHuman

      I’m glad I wasn’t the only person who thought lining the cannons up was funny :)

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      Chinese are masters at propaganda by taking symbols that once meant one thing and making them mean another.

      Great Wall of Chiina = symbol of tyranny and slavery (it was a different economy back then)
      panda = symbol of China’s degrading environment and unwillingness to protect its natural resources
      Pearl Tower and other tasteless building = symbol of China’s unbridled motivation of trying to live in the future

      You know how supervillian like to like in super-stylized mega-buildings that are an extension of their own ego, and look like crazy things? That’s China.

      (For reference: Dr. Evil secret lair that looks like himself in “Austin Powers”).

  • http://www.proxyforchina.com Rod

    “Whoever lives in the crotch unit will be blessed.”

    I’ll have to try this one out.

    • Will I Am

      Blessed are those who reside in the crotch?

      • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

        I believe the bedroom suite of the crotch unit uses a hammock to resemble a jock strap.

        For the sake of symbolism.

  • Whatever

    really interesting design, glad to see original thinking and improvisation…and with human, positive message….go go CQ!

    • whichone

      Just because an idea is original doesn’t mean it’s one worth having.

      example: Jimmy Dean Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick

      • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

        First: I completely agree with your sentiments, except this is China we’re talking about in which there is no orignial thought. When Chinese have money and the conceit to make something in order to look good, taste nor original thought come into question.

        Second: Where can I procure said Jimmy Dean Pancakes and Sausage on a Stick? Is there some kind of combo deal I can get in on?

        • whichone

          costco (or sams club), I joined their membership and fell in love with my microwave all over again. :)

  • Rene

    I think it is just beautiful, full of energy and creativity
    I can see that other comments need more openness
    it is about time we change our boring cityscape

    • Boris

      Switch to bottled water.

  • Eric

    Awesome building

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      …to be seen from outer space; but apart from that, no: terrible to live in (diagonal elevators), terrible to have as a neighbor, terrible structural engineering.

      The best thing about it is that when you tell the cabbie “Take me to that awful building in the center of town,” they will know where to take you.

      Works in any language.

  • Adjutant

    It’s a clever design, but I wouldn’t want it as a huge building. It just looks silly. As a statue it would’ve been nice.

  • staylost

    They look so Japanese to me, like beautiful arches before going in to honor the dead of WWII.

  • Will I Am

    Think of the CCTV Beijing Tower being labeled “Big Underpants.”

    In my few trips to PRC I’ve appreciated the varied architecture of the buildings. The drawing above exaggerates the scale of the “Pi Men” to the existing city skyline. Perhaps a better rendering might be more palatable. I personally think the design is hideous.

  • Dan Danger

    Infantile design. No doubt to be pushed forward immediately by the govt who wold be proud to have a goofy character like Haibao represent their country. Of he is better than that freaky thing for the Xi’an horticulture expo. That monster is a both low watermark in the history of not only China but of all mankind.

  • Rick in China

    Anyone else imagine one of the arms falling down? That’s pretty *expedient* construction expectations, I’d wager it’d not be so ‘up to code’, especially given Chongqing’s history of massive corruption.

  • DRaY

    i think this is nice… nothing wrong with something that breaks up the monotony of boring buildings…. no lets just hope it doesnt have those nasty looking tiles on the exterior…… GROSS.

  • andywattbulb

    Hold me Jack!

  • LeBlanc

    I don’t think the design is that bad. It would certainly be a unique building and serve as a tourist attraction. I just hope that the Chinese will at least allow some Western consultants to look over the plans to ensure the safety and feasability of the design. This is what the Arabs do and places such as Dubai have produced the greatest architectural wonders of the new millenium as a result.

  • elle

    I agree with the Chinese netizens. This building looks dumb.

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