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Challenges of Convention Center Design
Convention centers can place a large burden on local infrastructure; their operation demands electricity for lighting, equipment, and cooling, water for drinking and irrigation, and substantial requirements for cargo transportation. The centers, however, add value to their communities by driving tourism, which creates demand for hotel rooms, restaurants, and other amenities, and generates jobs and revenues for the community. In the case of Zhongshan, civic leaders decided that a successful center was necessary to position the city on the global stage and facilitate commerce, employment, teaching, and training that would strengthen the area.
The second, and more abstract, challenge of convention center design is the difficulty associated with generating compelling architecture within a category of building that has so long been defined by the “box with docks” model. In recent years, SOM has embraced a number of similarly challenging projects with relative success, advancing new models of environmentally responsible, site-specific convention centers and master plans in American cities such as Chicago and Virginia Beach, and extensively in Chinese cities including Shaoxing and Suzhou. In each of these examples, the success of the project depended not only on the individual presence of the structure, but also on its integration into the surrounding area.
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