Ren Building, Shanghai

In Mandarin the “人” or rén symbol translates to man. It’s not hard to spot the similarity between the rén and the Ren building. Within the architectural community, especially on public forums, there is a lot of debate as to the cultural origins of the symbol. But to be brutally honest, it’s a silly discussion because it makes for a beatiful building.

Billed as the Eiffel Tower of Shanghai, sadly it was never built. It was strictly a building propsed by JDS Architects for the 2010 World Expo. Click here to see more of the architecture from the 2010 Expo.

What I enjoy most about it is that it’s really two buildings that form both a pair of towers and an arch. One of the buildings is on land and the other on water. At the top is a hotel which has 1,000 rooms. Sadly you’ll have to imagine the view of the HuangPu River from up there.