Ren Building is an interesting design by PLOT that has since split up into BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) and JDS (Julien De Smedt). As we all know, Chinese characters evolved from pictures, this one “人” in particular from a picture of a man walking. There are lots of discussions going on about the building such as the cultural image used is translated too literally, communism promotes ‘better’ architecture than capitalism, staircase vs elevator vs escalator, and so on.

“The REN Building is a proposal for a hotel, sports and conference center for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. The building is conceived as two buildings merging into one. The first building, emerging from the water, is devoted to the activities of the body, and houses the sports and water culture center. The second building emerging from land, is devoted to the spirit and enlightenment, and houses the conference center and meeting facilities. The two buildings meet in a 1000 room hotel, a building for living. The building becomes the Chinese sign for ‘The People’, and a recognizable landmark for the World Expo in China.