人 (Ren): The People's Building

Proposed for construction in Shanghai to coincide w/ the 2010 World Expo. The Chinese character 人 (romanized “ren”) means person or people.

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 design comes from the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in Copenhagen. Previous World Expo architecture includes the Eiffel Tower and Seattle’s Space Needle.

LINK/IMAGES/VIDEO [a few more pics and a nice overview video] (Inhabitat) LINK/IMAGES [World Expo architecture]