AkzoNobel announced on April 7 that its decorative paints have been selected for the highly anticipated reconstruction project of the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing in China.

The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing was built in the 15th century but was demolished in 1856. It was one of the most well-known Chinese cultural heritages in Western societies thanks to the introduction by Johan Nieuhof, a renowned Dutch traveler in the 17th century, in his illustrative and informative China memoirs. The current reconstruction project, entitled the Nanjing Porcelain Tower Relics Park, will transform the relics into a cultural attraction for the city.

The first phase of the project features a newly built Buddhist temple, which consists of a porcelain pagoda in the center and surrounding walls. AkzoNobel has concocted a light yellow color for its porcelain walls in accordance with the project specifications to regain the glory of the original Porcelain Tower.

Some 20,000 kilograms of Dulux Pro Stucco, an acrylate copolymer based water-born texture paint of AkzoNobel Decorative Paints, have been used to paint 8,000-square-meter porcelain walls of this project. With outstanding performance in weather-resistance, adhesion and color versatility, Dulux Pro Stucco has been deployed in a number of high-profile modern constructions as well as cultural restoration projects such as Wuhan Gemdale, West River Moon in Xi’an and Jade City in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Lin Liangqi, president of AkzoNobel China and managing director of Decorative Paints China and North Asia of AkzoNobel, said: “We believe color as well as heritage are integral parts of an amicable human city, therefore we are honored to be involved in the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing assignment and are committed to helping make it shine again. This is going to be a classic showcase of our Human Cities initiative in China to make reclaimed cultural heritages fine-tune and enrich urbanization.”

Jamie Hope, Project Business General Manager of Decorative Paints China, added: “Our company has a wealth of experience and expertise in heritage restoration works worldwide. We are very pleased that our innovative paint solutions are applied in such a significant cultural heritage project in China. We believe, painted with our Dulux Pro Stucco, the tower can achieve brighter appearance and better anti-stain ability.”

“The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing project is a highly important assignment of the city. Therefore we would only work with the highest quality partners such as AkzoNobel in this project. AkzoNobel’s expertise in color and heritage restoration has brought tremendous value to us,” said a man sir named Bao – Project Manager of China Construction - 8th Subsidiary, the general contractor of the Nanjing Porcelain Tower project.