THE selected design for a subvenue of the 2011 Shenzhen Universiade in Nanshan District would be abandoned and replaced with a new one, the district government announced Sunday.

    The Shenzhen Bay Sports Center will adopt the design “Spring Cocoon” by Japanese AXS Company and the Beijing Architecture Design Institute. It replaces “Seashell” by the China Architecture Design Institute. The design was selected in November last year after an international competition held by the district government.

    “We changed our mind after prudent consideration,” the Nanshan District Government said in a statement Sunday. “We are willing to take responsibility for the change.”

    The “Spring Cocoon,” which was more innovative in design, was a better representation of the Shenzhen Municipal Government’s goal to build the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center into a new landmark for the city, the statement said.

    The “Spring Cocoon” was the winner of an international design competition and selected by an official evaluation panel of 13 experts from China and abroad Nov. 25 last year while “Seashell” was ranked No. 3.

    On Nov. 30, the Nanshan District Government announced the selection of “Seashell,” saying “Spring Cocoon” lost because the design was “too costly and complicated, which would make construction difficult.”

    The switch was made after Shenzhen’s urban planning bureau opposed the district government’s decision Jan. 30, claiming in a report submitted to the municipal government that “Spring Cocoon” outweighed “Seashell” in innovation and structure.

    “In line with international practice, the winning design should be selected,” the report said.

    Li Xinggang, one of the chief designers of the National Stadium, or “Bird’s Nest,” was also chief designer of “Seashell.” He claimed his work had been treated unfairly.

    “It (the change) was unprecedented in Shenzhen’s history of international design competition,” Li said in an essay posted on the Internet. “It reduces Shenzhen’s credibility and adversely affects the government’s image.”

    Some netizens echoed Li’s opinion, criticizing the government saying the Japanese design had been selected because the government “has blind faith in things foreign.”

    Construction of the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center, which will contain a stadium, gymnasium, swimming pool and sports park, will start in July and be finished by December 2010 in time for the Universiade.

    (Li Jing)