Following a multi-stage international competition, David Chipperfield Architects Shanghai has been commissioned to restore the Shanghai Municipal Council Building (SMCB) and complete its unfinished wing.
Filling an entire urban block in the old city centre, the SMCB is listed as a Cultural Heritage Building and was formerly the site of the British Municipal Council and later the Shanghai Municipal Government. Due to material shortages after World War I, construction ended in 1922 with only two thirds of the building complete.
In addition to opening the existing buildings for public use, the new extension will complete the originally proposed volume, framing a large central public courtyard.