The Verb To Xintiandi

Originally posted on 16th April 2015

by The Pearl

Concept Plan

In the exhibition about the development of Xintiandi there was a photograph of the original design concept created in July 1993, the month my daughter was born.  Xintiandi literally means New Heaven and Earth in Chinese, but more accurately New World.  Due to its award winning success the American architect, Benjamin T Wood, has gone on to redesign areas all over China.  Apparently Xintiandi

 “has become a verb. Developers say to architects, ‘Can you Xintiandi this project for me?’ The young Chinese people come because they think it’s trendy, the foreigners come because they think it’s historically significant, and the old people come because they feel nostalgia.”

Design concept Xintiandi

and it is quite a phenomenon, because since its development Shanghai has gone onto preserve much more of its architecture, an idea it hadn’t entertained before.  And it is why some of the large and architecturally significant buildings in the Old French Concession and some of the lilongs there and in the International Settlement will also be preserved.
The development was undertaken by Shui On Land a Hong Kong based property

One Xintiandi

developer.  They kept One Xintiandi, built originally in 1925, with a European exterior and a Chinese interior, but strengthened the foundations and superstructure and it has become the clubhouse of Shui On Land and as one guide books puts it the Group sits inside  and counts its money!
To the north of the north block of Xintiandi is an office block, but as in

Office Block north of Xintiandi

many places in Shanghai there is a coffee house on the ground floor and I thought that blossoming cherry trees made it look especially pretty, the other day.  And trees feature throughout the area – they are on the original Design Concept Board after all and they and the other use of plants and art are what really makes this place enjoyable.

North Block

North Block Xintiandi is mainly made over to cafes and restaurants and we have seen people using the outside seating even in the coldest months.  As I pointed out in a previous post, all these buildings have been more or less completely rebuilt with just perhaps the facades being kept.

Art Works

Water cascade

RIBA Year of the Goat Artwork

As well as trees being an important feature, art has a prominent role, both as permanent and temporary structures.  This water cascade is at the entrance to Xintiandi Style in the South Block, and when we first went to Xintiandi in the winter this art work for the Chinese New Year representing the

Fountain Xintiandi

year of the goat and model houses as mountains was advertising RIBA and in the courtyard at the side of Xintiandi Style.
In the North Block there is a permanent fountain and a restaurant that takes its name: The Fountain Restaurant.  The last time I was there another UK architecture organisation, CTHM, was advertising its work.  It had designed a modern art work called Fountain Falls which appeared to flow out of the upper storey window of the
restaurant. Yet another water feature sits at the top end of the area.

It all makes for a very pleasant, if busy place to be.

South Block – Xintiandi Style

Xintiandi Style Shopping Mall

The South Block is made up of the shopping Mall Xintiandi Style, with shops and cafes with some interesting interior architectural design features.  The shops had clothes from western and Chinese fashion designers and during the Shanghai Fashion week the shops of the latter were highlighted with notices outside each shop.

Sproutworks Cafe

Buddhist Monk at Sproutworks

At bottom end of the Mall is a Sproutworks restaurant selling mainly vegetarian food, which is why I suppose this buddhist monk was there, but in amongst all this consumerism I did find it rather incongruous.