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The traditional prestige of the art gallery and museum is slowly being over- taken by retail and other interactive buildings. People are replacing paintings as the real point of focus as we move into a new era.

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ically. Our research has found that with many existing convention centers, there was little or no connection to the city they occupied or the culture of their context. The convention center of the future must be welcomed into the family of public architecture and celebrate both the city and the culture of the people in its community. Our experience with recent mixed-use developments and public-assembly buildings—especially as we move out of

the recent government budget deficits—is for the amalgamation of the conference event with other affiliatedbuilding types, e.g., hotels, offices, retail, etc. The slowly fading argument that only state-funded buildings can be endorsed by the public and incorporated into their cognitive awareness of the collateral development of a city is shifting.We will rely on the pri- vate sector to integrate cultural types of buildings into the projects, to mitigate risk and lead to future revenue returns. I believe that the convention center of the future must separate the user experience into three public modes: urban respon-

sibility; significant hospitality dimensions, offering a hotel-like service and functionality; and flexible meeting-room accom- modations. Each of these three modes should then be assigned a relevant decorative and symbolic motif, establishing a layered and appropriate metaphor to create an internal energy. The possibilities for change and the shift in importance of the convention center will command a reawakening of the sublime giant, as it becomesmore integratedwith a vibrant assembly ofmixed-usage buildings that hang off its back.

NIK KARALIS is design director for the global design firmWoods Bagot, architects for projects including the Melbourne Convention + Exhibition Centre, a world leader in sustainable design, and the Qatar Science & Technology Park. The firmhas been named concept designer for the planned Shijiazhuang International Exhibition and Convention Centre, in Shijiazhuang, China.