L.A. Architects Work on Shanghai Project

Construction is to start this fall on a $200-million museum center in Shanghai designed by local architecture firm RTKL.

The Los Angeles-based lead design team left Monday for Shanghai to wrap up last-minute details before the quasi-government agency Shanghai Scienceland Development Co. begins building the project.

Shanghai Scienceland, nearly 1 million square feet, is to serve as an educational institute, promoting advances in science and technology, similar to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

RTKL, an architecture and planning firm with eight offices worldwide, was awarded the project by the Chinese government after an international design competition.

Scienceland is to be one of the host sites of the 2001 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation World Summit in Shanghai. The project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2001.