Created according to the master plan by Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), Binhai Cultural Centre in Tianjin, a city in eastern China, includes five cultural buildings. The gmp studio was responsible for the unique urban design concept and, in addition, designed the Museum of Modern Art. Four international architecture studios have designed the other cultural buildings: a library (MVRDV), a Science and Technology Museum (Bernhard Tschumi Architects), a theatre (Revery Architecture) and a Citizen Centre (Hua Hui Architects).
The general plan of the project defines uniform construction lines, roof alignment and depth of the individual constructions and, thus, a unified arrangement of different cultural buildings by Chinese, European and North American architects is created. The cultural buildings are connected by a covered cultural hall that works as the backbone of the centre. The structures, like inverted 30-metre-high umbrellas, supported by 26 individual steel columns, are a distinctive architectural element and unite artistic and cultural buildings.
