Tschumi's special skill is to balance his design between the commercial demands of an international financial hub, the institutions that will populate it and the priorities of the individual quality of human life within those populations. Inspired by the pristine tropical canvas with which he has to work, Tschumi's plan echoes the building of the first cities in the region half a millennium ago. These were built as successively interlinking archipelagos necessarily set in harmony with their surroundings, which had to feed them. For different but no less pressing reasons, the Centre and its surrounds will preserve and sustain the natural attributes of its setting, without sacrificing any of the convenience and amenity expected of a 21st century metropolis.
The result will be a new vision for urban design, drawing together working and living spaces into a highly functional, organic and coherent sense of place.
