Dalian International Conf. Ctr., Dalian, China

Austrian firm Coop Himmelb(l)au won a competition in 2008 to design the Dalian International Conference Center. Construction commenced later that year and involved the help of shipbuilders, who were brought in to bend the massive steel plates of the outer shell.  Coop Himmelb(l)au (est. 1968) is a cooperative architectural design firm primarily located in Vienna, and which also maintains offices in Los Angeles, and Guadalajara.

In German, coop has a similar meaning to the English "co-op". In German, Himmel means “sky” or “heaven”, and blau means “blue” while bau means “building” or “to build/construct”. So, the name can be interpreted either as “Blue Sky Cooperative” or “Heaven Building/Construction Cooperative”.
Coop Himmelblau was founded by Wolf Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky and Michael Holzer and gained international acclaim alongside Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry with the 1988 exhibition, “Deconstructivist Architecture” at the Museum of Modern Art. Their work ranges from commercial buildings to residential projects.

Waterworks

Mr. Li taking photo