Hang 'em high: Shanghai Cruise Ship Terminal's controversial pods

First Shanghai had to suffer the indignity of having one of the most phallic skylines in the world. Then it added a bottle opener to the scene. Now, we have dangling dining pods.

Fast Company reports that “SPARCH Architects, in charge of the master plan for Shanghai's new cruise ship terminal, has released renderings of its crown jewel: a collection of pod-like restaurants and bars suspended by cables from a 130-foot-high, glass-clad archway.” 

Called the Shanghai Chandelier, we’re told the point of the design is to remove the new venues from the busy city traffic in accordance with the Shanghai Expo’s theme “Better City Better Life.” For patrons of these swinging saloons, there should be better views of the water and city skyline as well.

But the Shanghai cruise ship terminal is already a controversial project, due to the fact that major cruise ships won’t be able to use it since the river is too narrow and the Yangpu bridge too low, and we fear this latest ambition will just add some very expensive fuel to the pyre that the city's architectural skeptics are building around the project. 

The Shanghai cruise ship terminal is set to open in May, in time for -- of course -- the Shanghai 2010 Expo.