{"id":1188573,"date":"2026-09-05T22:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T22:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1188573\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T22:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T22:04:23","slug":"paul-clemence-on-shanghais-skyscraper-crowns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1188573\/","title":{"rendered":"paul clemence on shanghai\u2019s skyscraper crowns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.\u201d\u00a0 \u2013 Italo Calvino \/ \u201cInvisible Cities\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When we arrive at a new city, we instinctively try to locate ourselves and feed our inner GPS with points of reference. If there is a river or coastline, surrounding hills or mountain ridges, that makes it easy. In addition to these natural markers, the built environment can also function as a reference: an open square, an ancient religious structure, an arena, an extensive, long public throughfares, bridges<\/strong><\/a>, and buildings. Within this last category, naturally, towers<\/strong><\/a> (of all purposes and heights) stand out, given their piercing vertical presence in the landscape. While this is true of most cities, in Shanghai<\/strong><\/a>, with its massive scale and accelerated development speed, this need for some sort of guiding post takes on an even more important significance: How do we locate ourselves in a densely built, maze like metropolitan area of approximately 14k\u00a0km2?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As sailors navigating on a dark night, we look up and into the distance for some sort of North Star that could lead the way and position us within the city\u2019s complex urban fabric. We consider scanning the horizon for a high-rise skyscraper, that we could see from different vantage points, like a lighthouse, but in a city with about 200 such skyscrapers (492 feet high and up) a tall building structure over here, doesn\u2019t necessarily distinguish itself from that other similar tall building structure over there. Height alone is not enough. But, fortunately, the designers of many of these soaring towers were as dedicated to how to top of their designs as they were about how to make the buildings the tallest they could be, carefully considering that element that often is the defining factor on making a building memorable (sometimes even iconic) or not: its crown.<\/p>\n

\"paul
Pudong skyline seen from the Bund, Shanghai waterfront | \u00a9 Paul Clemence <\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

THE CROWN AS COMPASS<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Staying under one such crown at the 81st floor of the Park Hyatt Shanghai, nestled inside the Shanghai World Financial Center ( 2008,architets Kohn Pederson Fox), gave me quite literally a sky box view from which to observe and ponder this idea. First, there was the duality of being on the lookout for these crowns, while staying right under one such crown. And then, surveying the city from up there, being able to gaze at the cityscape at all hours of the day, was fascinating to watch the city from an early light glow at sunrise to a Blade Runner like dusk, scanning the horizon for which of these unique crowns would stand out against the sky, the scenery making for a very rich experience, at once insightful and meditative.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe catalogue of forms is endless: until every shape has found its city, new cities will continue to be born. When the forms exhaust their variety and come apart, the end of cities begins.\u201d \u2013 Italo Calvino \/ \u201cInvisible Cities\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contemplating the sprawling city below, it was clear (even through the veil of some smog) that there was absolutely no shortage of crowns. Some cool, some cutting edge, sophisticated, some novelty, bordering on kitsch, \u2013 altogether, an eclectic mix making for a futuristic architectural tableau that spoke to the many influences, styles, tastes and eras that informed how that skyline (and could be said that country) has developed.<\/p>\n

\"paul
Eclectic crowns, with Ping An Financial Tower at center | \u00a9 Paul Clemence<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

SYMBOLS ON THE SKYLINE<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two of the most emblematic such crowns were designed by John Portman & Associates, one of the first American architecture office to start working in China. Known for his ambitious towering glassy (and often glossy) projects, for these two projects the design direction veered towards a more elaborate geometry, symbolic direction. The Tomorrow Square tower (2003), which, curiously, hosts the world\u2019s highest library on its 60th floor, features a pointed apex composed of four pyramid corners inclined towards the center inching towards the center but stopping just short of meeting. Clad in aluminum, the crown is a gleaming presence as it reflects the Sun light (even in a cloudy day).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Centrally located within the city, the Tomorrow Square metallic peak is an ideal geo locator. Portman\u2019s other prominent contribution to the Shanghai skyline is the Bund Center (2002). Here, the architects drew inspiration from the Lotus flower, a respected symbol of purity and spiritual integrity in Chinese culture. So atop the cream terracotta and glass wall sheathed tower, a 58 meters wide, 582 tons Lotus petals garland was placed. Whether in the daytime or nighttime, when the petals are lit in a golden glow, it\u2019s impossible to miss this imaginative crown, bringing a lyrical touch to the urban horizon. But perhaps, for me at least, it was the Jin Mao Tower crown, with its glistening stainless steel pinnacle spire piercing the sky, that spoke the most to my eyes and camera.<\/p>\n

\"paul
Lotus flower inspired Bund Center crown, architecture John Portman & Associates | \u00a9 Paul Clemence<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

JIN MAO AND THE LANGUAGE OF HERITAGE<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Completed in 1999, the Jin Mao kicked off the transformation of the Pudong area into a full-fledged high-rise district. It was China\u2019s first entry into the supertall buildings arena, so it was important that the design both pointed towards an optimistic future while also celebrated the country\u2019s heritage. Thus, when Adrian Smith team (then at Chicago\u2019s Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), approached the project they looked for inspiration from the traditional Chinese pagoda typology and used assorted patterns stemming from the number 8, considered a symbol of prosperity in China, in both the design and the engineering system. The result was a towering tiered structure that asserted itself to its unique place in Shanghai\u2019s history (at completion it was the tallest building in China), while respectfully gesturing to the city\u2019s past.
It was absolutely awe inspiring to every morning stare at that spire atop the Jin Mao crown, glistening against the backdrop of the megalopolis cacophony behind it, that sword in the sky being as much a symbol of a certain time and direction in the city\u2019s path as a place maker.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This contemplation taking place from high on the Shanghai World Financial Center also offered an insightful opportunity to consider two very different approaches to the so-called architectural crowning. While the Jin Mao went for a more literal regional reference, the former opted for a more abstract approach, creating a crown from the negative space left by a large inverted trapezoid opening above the building, that opening (originally meant to be circular) a reference to the traditional \u201cmoon gates\u201d found in Chinese gardens. Though quite different, both designs share a sensitive use of symbolism, each on their specific style, to gesture towards the context, and in that process creating two of the most iconic crowns of Shanghai.<\/p>\n

\"paul
Tomorrow Square pyramidal crown, architecture John Portman & Associates | \u00a9 Paul Clemence<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

FROM ORNAMENT TO IDENTITY<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Slowly, once the views became more familiar, the feeling of architectural wanderlust began to blend with the notion of how much that variety of crown designs told us about the culture and the DNA of the city. After all an actual crown is not merely an embellishing ornament, but also an identity statement and a tool for commanding awe. Thus, that mix of styles, sometimes drawing on Chinese heritage, sometimes radical contemporary, other times pure technological exhibitionism as if catching up for the years of isolation, reflects perfectly well the Shanghai of today.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The word \u201clandmark\u201d is supposedly derived from the merging of two words from Old English, land and mearc, \u201cto mean a physical boundary marker\u201d, a way to delimitate a certain area. But as time went by \u201clandmark\u201d went from that simple, direct physical meaning to also become associated with historical moments of change and transition (\u201ca landmark case\u201d, \u201carchitectural landmark\u201d). The Shanghai crowns can be considered landmarks in both these meanings of the word: they are both a geographical marker and each of them a marker of their respective era.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, buildings (super tall or not) and their idiosyncratic crowns alone are not the only factor on \u201cgetting\u201d a city. For that we need to walk it, move through it, feel the energy at a street level, have a meal, engage and interact with the locals, \u2013 live it. But undoubtedly, these idiosyncratic crowns, in the same vein as Italo Calvino\u2019s selective mentions of architectural elements in his classic book Invisible Cities, have certainly much say on our experience of a city and can tell us a lot about its evolving genius loci.<\/p>\n

\"paul
Lan Sheng Building, left, and Golden Bell Mansion, right | \u00a9 Paul Clemence<\/p>\n

\"paul
\u00a9 Paul Clemence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 \u201cCities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1188574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3939],"tags":[12855,4021,4020,4022,77,305929,310736,187366,16,15],"class_list":["post-1188573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-architecture-in-china","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-guest-essays","tag-modes-of-habitation","tag-skyscraper-architecture-and-design","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117220704767823050","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1188573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1188574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1188573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1188573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1188573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}