"GMP is very good at balancing the requirements of the client and their own design concept," says Zhao Chunshui, chief architect at Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute.

"Their strong rationality and logicality works well with Chinese clients. But dialogue is only their method. What really matters is their design philosophy: simplicity, order and diversity."

Xue Qiuli, associate professor of architecture at City University of Hong Kong, thinks the timing is right to promote these values in China.

"What GMP promotes in its works used to be very popular in Chinese architecture. But they have been confused in recent decades."

The company was founded in 1965 in Hamburg by Meinhard von Gerkan and Volkwin Marg. It now has 400 employees in 10 offices in Asia, Europe, South America and Africa. More than 200 staff members are in China.

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