The ceremony of laying the first stone of the new Shanghai International Design Center was held yesterday at the campus of Tongji University in the outdoor site where the new complex contains about two hundred people including public authorities, leaders of the district Tongji University and Yangpu, and a representative of the Italian authorities, including the Consul Varriale, the Director of ICE in Shanghai Maurizio Forte and Paolo Sabbatini Director of the Institute of Culture.

The project, in fact, is the result of joint work between the Italian firm AM project in Milan and TJAD (Architectural Design Institute of Tongji University) in Shanghai, who in April won the international competition for the concept of the new International Design Center in Shanghai.

The Italian-Chinese AM-TJAD team, located at Tongji University, at the request of the jury constituted a single working group that, starting from the concept of competition created by AM Projects, in this last month has implemented the changes required by the client to achieve the final design.

The competition project originally developed by Joseph Pasquale and AM Project has met with a favorable opinion of the jury with an approach based on cultural sustainability, which combines Chinese and Western and Italian tradition, and environmental sustainability, adopting saving energy solution and the reduction of the environmental impact.

It was also appreciated the great quality integration in the urban context that has perfectly interpreted the various relationships with various facing towards the city, according to the specificity of the school and the Italian architectural tradition.

The new complex will have a green terraced stacked layer structure that will house, among others, a hotel, a museum, library and commercial spaces and offices. The landmark on the highway will be represented by a large door (Door of Marco Polo) consists of two towers pointing to the other rising to the west will be the symbol of internationality of the new complex.

The Gardens of Design and the shopping a Gallery (Gallery Matteo Ricci) are the other qualifying areas of the new fund, a real meeting point of connection between the campus and the urban fabric.

During the ceremony, the project was outlined by Prof. Wu Zhiqiang, the district engineer of the Shanghai Expo, and president of the jury and has highlighted the salient aspects: the building will complete the building of a fund of over 300,000 square meters fully which is dedicated to the design and size as the largest concentration of design firms in the world. This complex is located in the Yangpu district in Shanghai. The investments for the realization of the work will amount to more than 150 million euros. In recent weeks, the demolitions were completed, yesterday was the first stone laying and the works will begin in October.

The joint work between Italy and China in this specific project is part of the consolidated existing cooperation between our country and the Tongji University, which recently has been further strengthened by the agreements signed between the Prime Ministers Berlusconi and Wen Jaobao between ministers and Brunette Gang and Wang Center for the Creation of the Sino-Italian design. Noteworthy also be collaborations with other Italian institutions including the ICE in particular.