Chinese building is pants for critics
Gate to the East’s ‘laughable’ design slammed by online commentators in China
A building heralded as the highest gate-shaped structure in the world has been derided for looking like a ‘giant pair of pants’, provoking a storm of online complaints from Chinese commentators.
Billed as China’s answer to the Arc de Triomphe, the 74-storey Gate to the East pays homage to the Asian giant’s spectacular economic growth, a report in the UK based Telegraph newspaper said.
Located in Suzhou, 45 miles west of Shanghai, the 246.88m high skyscraper has been designed by the British architecture firm, RMJM, who have also worked on Abu Dhabi’s Capital Gate tower, as well the Okhta Centre, the future St Petersburg headquarters for Russian energy giant Gazprom.
The company has offices across the globe, including London, New York, Dubai, Shanghai and Moscow.
While the project was initially greeted with praise by the Chinese press, opinions have turned following massive criticism on social media websites like Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter.
“This should be called the ‘Pants of the East, not the Gate of the East,” one commentator said on the micro-blogging site, the Telegraph reported.
Another commentator claimed that walking through the building’s arch would be akin to “being forced to crawl between someone else’s legs.”
Other commentators chose to criticise the project for its lack of Chinese influence, calling the $71.1m project “laughable”.
“Any design that cannot be sold in foreign countries can come to China and sell at a good price,” wrote a commentator.
“Why does China look like the playground of foreign designers with laughable architecture ideas?” a blogger quoted by the UK newspaper said.
On their website, RMJM said that the design for the Gate to the East was inspired by “the combined Chinese traditions and western influences of the project’s two lead designers.”
Calling the final result a mixture of westernised pure form and Chinese subtlety, the firm intends for the building to be the focal point of a new central business district.
Covering a total area of 340,000m2, the Gate to the East will sit directly above a major underground rail interchange, which will be fully integrated into the completed building.
