Story highlights
Beijing authorities announce plans to place restrictions on new building designs, materials
Vice-mayoral announcement comes shortly after President Xi Jinping called for no more "weird buildings"
Architecture in Chinese cities has become increasingly bold and outlandish
Experts are divided on the potential impact of the planned building ordinances
China’s skylines could look a lot more uniform in the years to come, if a statement by a Beijing official is to believed.
The backlash against “weird buildings” escalated earlier this week when the capital’s vice mayor, Chen Gang, announced that the city would be taking a greater role in influencing its structures’ aesthetics.
The city plans to implement “building ordinances to govern the city’s building size, style, color and materials,” Chinese state media reported.
China’s cities, with their huge growth and increasingly bold architectural choices, have been a boon to the architecture industry over the past decade or so, with eye-catching structures popping up across the country.
However, following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s remarks, which call for an end of “weird architecture,” to a symposium in October, it seems as though there might be a politically-motivated directive at hand. The comments were widely reported in Chinese media.
Chen’s announcement is ostensibly to allow urban planning a greater hand in creating public spaces and “a better cityscape” for residents.
When contacted by CNN, the municipal government declined to comment further.
MORE: China’s crop of outrageous new hotel designs
“Like a pendulum”
Some are not concerned. Pritzker-prize laureate Rem Koolhaas, whose landmark CCTV building in the capital is often used a