The Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall.

This place may not be at the forefront of places to visit for visitors touring Beijing, but for those with a bent on architecture, The Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall is NOT to be missed.

As found in the coupon book of savings on admission, friends and I had spent the day learning about Beijing's urban planning past, its present, and its future, through the use of aerial photographs, countless model buildings, and short movies in the 3D theatre.

It was a feast for my eyes from the moment I walked in, and as I usually do in museums and art galleries, I read almost everything there was to be read on plaques denoting things of significance. In one section of the hall, there laid a huge scale model of the Forbidden City and its surroundings within the 2nd Ring Road, constructed entirely out of woodcut. Just imagine the number of man hours it must have taken building such a thing, putting things in by hand piece by piece. By comparison, a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle titled "Wheat-fields" would have been a heckofa lot easier to complete!

In another part of the exhibition hall, the entire flooring of the atrium was constructed mostly out of illuminated glass panels displaying a ginormous black and white aerial photograph of Beijing. In the centre of the atrium were model buildings of entire city blocks which encompassed railway stations, subway stations, municipal and government buildings, neighbourhoods, parks, lakes, and of course, the Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Square, the Olympic Park, and other tourist attractions, all neatly placed in accordance with where they should be placed with the aerial photo. I had never seen anything like this, on this magnitude. It was charming to see my apartment building, and the school in which I work in.

As for the future outlook of Beijing's skyline, it certainly looks promising, prosperous, and dare I say it, prodigal. New developments such as the Olympic Park with it's "Birds Nest" stadium and the "Water Cube" aquatic centre designed by foreign architects are very noteworthy, as well at the new CCTV building in the financial district of Central Beijing District (CBD). It's an architectural engineering feat: cube-like in design with a void space in the middle of the structure, but not in the same way as "The Grande Arche" in Paris, France. The CCTV building is more of a balancing act, with the seemingly top-heavy structure securely grounded.

The "Boot Building" TVCC tower beside the CCTV building is yet another testament to the playful creativity and imagination architects are running with. Scheduled for completion in time for the 2008 Olympics alongside with its larger sibling, the CCTV building, it will house a 300-room luxury hotel, a 1,500-seat theatre, recording studios, restaurants, and spas. A Mother-Goose nursery rhyme about an old woman who lived in a shoe, brought to life.

Tucked away in a corner was a futuristic showroom of white polycarbonate walls, floorings, ceilings, and furniture in curvy and angular designs. Nouns such as "comfort" and "warmth" didn't resonate with me when I browsed around this "Future Home" concept designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, rather, I thought it was "sterile" and "outlandish". I wasn't very impressed with this "playroom" for adults, to say the least, but the Jetsons family may like this sort of thing.

We concluded our visit to the exhibition at the 3D theatre which highlighted everything we had seen within the exhibition hall on film. The visuals were enhanced with the 3D goggles, especially with the fly-by scenes making it like we were Peter Pan and Co. overlooking the city from above.

Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall 1


Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall 2