U.S. Firm to Design New Beijing Center

By David S. Cohen -- Tradeshow Week, 9/20/2004

Atlanta architectural firm Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates proudly calls itself the world's leading designer of convention and exhibition centers. But even these industry veterans — who handled expansions to McCormick Place, Salt Palace and Ernest N. Morial Convention Center — had butterflies when they traveled to Beijing to compete for the job of designing the new China Intl. Exhibition Center.

"(A design competition) is tough for architects," said TVS principal C. Andrew McLean, "because we thrive with a direct relationship with the client, and trying to anticipate what they were looking for without the usual give-and-take was hard."

Five other firms competed, but by the time the competition was over, the company's contingent was feeling confident. Just a day later, CIEC Group President Liang Wen interrupted the architects' day of souvenir shopping to deliver the good news: TVS had the job.

The winning design, from TVS and local partner Beijing Institute of Architecture Design, incorporated elements from American and European exposition centers while adding a Chinese flair. The project promises to be one of the few to survive China's current freeze on exhibition center construction. But there is continuing talk that the Beijing government will insist all major construction be finished by 2006, so the country can turn its full resources and attention to preparing for the 2008 Olympics.

The design competition was a challenge, even for TVS. The new CIEC will be China's largest exhibition complex and an important facility in a major world capital, as prestigious as the Washington (D.C.) Convention Center, which TVS also designed.

The entire facility is comparable in size to McCormick Place: 1.8 million square feet, built in two phases. The design includes a nearby commercial center, with retail stores, designed in a unified whole with the CIEC.

Wen said the current CIEC has 50,000 square meters (538,196 sq. ft.) of exhibit space, not enough for the center's large exhibitions. "The auto show took an area of about 110,000 square meters (1.18 million sq. ft.) for an exhibition in June, but we don't have this kind of space for that kind of exhibition," he said. "For the last few years, we planned to build an exhibition center to cope with that kind of demand."

Also, due to the heavy European influence on China's tradeshow industry, CIEC had different design demands than a typical U.S. client. "They were looking for something modern, but uniquely identified with Chinese culture," said Jay Thomson, a design principal on the project.

McLean said the influence of the various German messes on tradeshows in China forced TVS to think differently. "The breakdown of space was a departure for us," McLean said. "In America, exhibitors are looking for the biggest possible room you can get. It was really fun to look at it from a different perspective."

So the design team created a four-sided structure with entrances on every side and service courtyards hidden inside the building. Thomson said the design was inspired by European fairgrounds, which have separate buildings. "(Efficiency) is a big part of the appeal of the multiple-building approach," he said. "Trucks can pull right up to relatively small halls and have relatively small distances from those truck berths."

The design keeps circulation clear and straightforward, with visitor access separated from exhibit access. Multiple access points and courtyards make the facility flexible, so multiple shows can load in and out at the same time.

The design includes a large, open exhibition floor, something from the CIEC's wish list. But TVS took a chance and added something else that has become popular in the United States and wasn't on the CIEC's list: smaller meeting rooms.

"We see a move toward a meeting component in trade-shows," said McLean. "We were anticipating that with a group of upper-level meeting rooms."

Finding a unified design was yet another challenge. The style needed to evoke not only China, but Beijing itself. That made matters even more difficult, because convention centers are typically sprawling, low buildings, not particularly suited for the kind of monumental architecture one associates with the great cities of the world.

TVS' solution was to draw on China's architectural traditions. "Gates and gardens were part of general city planning, palace planning, but especially part of the planning of Beijing and the Forbidden City," said Thomson. "Gates were put along the axes and also gardens. The center is organized around those gardens."

The gardens are not just decoration, added McLean. "These perimeters are like walls and perimeter levels of entry. They are used by the event to control crowds and the movement of people in and out of the facility."

The gates and gardens around the center will also help with security. TVS plans to use new security technologies as well.

Next, the CIEC's Liang will meet with TVS to begin refining the design, a process that could take some time. "This is not the final design," Wen said. "They need to do a lot of work to refine it."

Meanwhile, not even TVS can pinpoint the project's start date.