Palace Museum shuts the door on 'maverick' designs

When work starts on the new northern area for Beijing's Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, "maverick architecture" will not be allowed.

This was made clear on Thursday when the design blueprints from five candidates were unveiled.

The new museum, affiliated with the Forbidden City, will cover about 125,000 square meters - including 40,000 sq meters underground - along a river and reservoir in Shangzhuang in northwest Beijing. The location, Xiyuhe, is about 30 km from the Palace Museum.