Chinese web users outraged at British-designed ‘leggings’ landmark
Gate of the Orient, Suzhou, China.BEIJING, Sept 9 — Sina Weibo, China’s popular microblog that is said to receive up to 100 million messages per day, has been set abuzz with talk of how a work-in-progress Suzhou skyscraper, made up of two separate towers connected by an arched bridge, resembles a pair of “leggings” and “long johns.”
Xu Kang, deputy executive sales director of the building developer, Suzhou Chianing Real Estate, defended the design. Xu told The China Daily Wednesday that the tower, to be completed this year, “inherits the culture of the city to the maximum extent.” He added that the choice of the twin-tower design is based on classic ancient city gates in China.
The Gate of the Orient building is designed to house offices, hotels, malls and residential apartments.
According to the official statement by Edinburgh-based RMJM Architects who won the bid to design the building, the 278-metre tall structure is constructed in a way so as to be “a dramatic iconic ‘gateway’ to the city of Suzhou” and is inspired “from the historic and cultural references of the traditional famous Gardens of Suzhou.”
The city of Suzhou, in China’s Jiangsu province, has a long tradition of elegantly manicured gardens dating to the 1300s. — AFP/Relaxnews
