Cultural complex reopens its doors

Columbia Circle reopened its doors with 90 percent of its stores operating on June 3.  

A landmark of the city, Columbia Circle integrates culture, entertainment, life and office, and features an outdoor swimming pool and 11 industrial buildings.

The cultural complex is now open between 8am and 8pm. Meanwhile, business hours for the iconic Tsutaya Books here is 10am to 8pm.

The Changning-based Columbia Circle, a renovated fashion hub, has become a landmark and a popular checking-spot in the city.

The historic site once served as a campus of the Shanghai Institute of Biological Products Co (SIBP), and before that a place where Americans came to socialize, is now open as a 24/7 creative hub.

It became the major site of a coffee and opera festival running through last month with coffee promotion and stage performances held in the compound and nearby historical streets.

The former residence of the Columbia Country Club at 1262 Yan’an Road W. is a complex of 18 buildings, three of which are historical houses by Hungarian-Slovak architect László Ede Hudec and American architect Elliott Hazzard.

Jointly developed by SIBP and China Vanke Co, the architectural legacy of modern Shanghai is now a vibrant mix of cultural and entrepreneurial blocks, corporate offices, residential and retail spaces.

Shanghai Fashion Week and Shanghai Biennial were held here. It is also where a number of premieres, global launches and major marketing initiatives take place.

Edited by Shanghai Daily