Shanghai is a city with many hidden architectural gems - not just the old buildings that we so often hear about, but the new structures that epitomize modern design and make for better living.

A judging panel of internationally known architects visited Shanghai last week to tour five of the best examples of excellently designed buildings by Chinese mainland architects.

The experts were judging the Taiwan-based 2007 Far Eastern Outstanding Architectural Design Award, in cooperation with Tongji University's Urban Planning and Architecture Institute.

The award has traditionally honored Taiwan-based architects - this year for the first time it included Shanghai. The prize has been awarded for seven years by the Far Eastern Group Memorial Foundation and aims to promote young Chinese architects, encourage the best in modern architecture for better living.

At an awards ceremony in Taipei Saturday night, two first-place honors went to architects in both Taiwan and Shanghai. The first prize is 250,000 yuan (US$34,000); the second prize is 125,000 yuan.

The first-place Shanghai award went to Liu Jiakun for the Exhibition Center of Qingpu District New Town. Second place went to Miao Pu for the Minhang Ecological Garden. Taiwan's top honor went to Jay W. Chiu, designer of the 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan.

"This is the first time we have included architecture in the Chinese mainland for the award," says Morton Maote Huang, special assistant to chairman of Far Eastern Group, organizer of the award. "Taiwan is too small and limited for great architectures and that's why we want to expand the award to the Chinese mainland."

Former Shanghai Mayor Xu Kuangdi persuaded the Far Eastern Group to recognize distinguished Chinese mainland architects in Shanghai, a city of mushroom architecture of all kinds.

Judges visited the buildings in person - not through Powerpoint, paper and photos - and talked to the architects.

"Our award focuses on buildings designed solely by Chinese architects," says Huang. "At present Taiwan architect candidates outnumber those in Shanghai because most big projects in Shanghai involve cooperation with foreign architects."

This will take time, but eventually Shanghai will have more outstanding architecture designed by Chinese, he says.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday the panel of judges with strong international backgrounds visited the five architecture candidates, chosen from among 22 buildings and urban designs in Shanghai.

The pane lists include Professor Mohsen Mostafavi, dean of the Graduate School of Design in Harvard University; Masao Furuyama, vice president of the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan, Edward Huang, senior planner of the Downtown Region for the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles, and Cui Kai, vice president, chief architect and national design master of China Architecture Design and Research Group.

Photos and descriptions of the top candidates' works will be compiled into a book.

Winner - Exhibition Center of Qingpu District New Town, by Liu Jiakun

The winning Exhibition Center for New Town Construction is consistent with the surrounding large-scale square, lake, TV tower, avenue and playground, which form a boundary with Xiayang Lake.

It is divided into three functional areas - south, middle and north. The south part is Qingpu Urban Planning Department; north is for New Town administration offices; the center's ground floor is an exhibition hall, upper floors are for entertainment and shopping.

From the road to the building, there are trees, pools, platforms, terraced greenery, brick courtyards and spaces embraced by some parts of the building. It expresses the gradual change from city traffic space to the interior of the buildings with gray and black facades.

Second place - Minhang Ecological Garden, by Miao Pu

The Ecological Garden lies in a dense residential and industrial area. The 4,400-square-meter project is comprised of the park administration and two reception facilities.

Architect Miao says that the standard Western solution for such a project could be three free-standing buildings surrounded by lawns. But he went with China's courtyard tradition, decentralized the building mass and internalized outdoor space as courtyards.

Walls separate the center from the park and the three parts from each other. This allows users to have privacy while enjoying the nature.

The Edge Garden, Qingpu District, by Ma Qingyun

The renovation of Winding Water Garden, now known as Edge Park in front of Chenghuang Temple in Qingpu, introduces urban public space into traditional landscape gardens.

By integrating and juxtaposing the old and the new, their materials and structures, the project strengthens the inherent qualities of both historical and modern space.

The architect says that when one enters a garden, it should be like entering a different reality.

Edge Park is special in the way it employs walls to both engage and conceal the surrounding environment. The flood-control canal both physically and symbolically separates the garden and Taoist temple from the surrounding commercial area. Water, as the "great purifier," provides an ideal transition to and from the site.

The Renovation Project of No. 8 Middle School East Teaching Building, Huangpu District, by Zhang Ming

The teaching building, containing a library and an auditorium, adjacent to the excellently preserved historic No. 8 Middle School. The new architecture continues and regenerates traditional spirit in a modest way.

"This project is not fashionable or avant-garde," says architect Zhang Ming. The 2,000-square-meter East Building is inserted into the historical landscape district of No. 8 Middle School, with a gentle yet modern attitude. The minimalist modern architecture echoes traditional Chinese lines.

Shanghai Xiayu Kindergarten, Qingpu New Town, by Liu Yichun, Zhuang Shen and Chen Yifeng

On the edge of the Qingpu New Town,the kindergarten contains 15 classrooms, each with a living room, dining room, bedrooms and outdoor playgrounds.

The architects cluster classrooms, teachers' offices and other facilities into two curved clusters. All living rooms are on the first floor, brilliantly colored bedroom boxes are on second floor.

The architects use black stone throughout, treating it differently in different settings so that it almost seems like different materials.

(Shanghai Daily December 17, 2007)