The landscape design was by Joseph Paxton and the design was a prime example of the Landscape Style being used to make an urban park.

Mr Ni has an ambitious vision and would, I believe, do a better job at re-creating these inspiring photos than anyone else who has put together plans for the site. I just wish he would proceed as quickly as possible – before the Chinese property bubble follows the pattern of its Japanese predecessor.
If the sports centre was of high quality, like the cathedral in the Metzquita, then I suppose I would want to keep it. But the buildings are trashy and should therefore be trashed in order to restore a much-more-important landscape design. Very full details of the landscape design survive and, given the money, the whole project could be restored.

It is also possible to do sports psychology, sports medicine and sport administration conferences. If a centre of excellence was established – perhaps even the FIFA and IOC people might be drawn to staying at the Crystal Palace boutique hotel.

How much of the grounds survive? [ http://www.speedhunters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Crystal_Palace_Circuit-003.jpg ] and [ http://www.redicecreations.com/ul_img/27154crystalB.jpg ].

As an architect it would be amazing to be able gain these views again…[ http://www.andymalanowski.com/Favorites/Images/crystal%20palace.jpg ] and [ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Crystal_Palace_Great_Exhibition_tree_1851.png ]

Conferences do seem to be a big business and you are right about the Crystal Palace area being well-served by public transport. The sports facilities were built in 1964. They damaged Paxton’s design for the park and now look run-down. I suppose they could host sports-related conferences but staff from FIFA and the International Olympic Committee seem to have a ‘best of everything’ mentality. When the Games came to London in 2012 they demanded, and got, dedicated traffic lanes in which all the lights were green. I think they would prefer conferences in North London – around the QE Olympic Park.

Crystal Palace also has 11 National Rail Stations: Crystal Palace, Anerley, East Croydon, Gipsy Hill, Norwood Junction, Penge East, Penge West, Selhurst, Sydenham, Thornton Heath and West Norwood. Also there are many buses to and from Crystal Palace bus station. Bus numbers: 3, 122, 157, 202, 227, 249, 322, 358, 363, 410, 417, 432, 450, 931.

Crystal Palace also has a unique parklife boasting “the National Sports Centre, concert bowl, old car race track, boating lake, maze and Grade I listed Victorian dinosaur sculptures. The
South Norwood Lake and Grounds contain tennis courts, a bowling green, a children’s playground and a lake which is the home of Croydon Sailing Club.

So it may be that the Conference facility might be targeted to particular types of conferences where there recreational values of the area are seen as an asset.

MONA is an amazing project, though my initial sympathies are with the critic quoted on the Wiki entry ‘Michael Connor of the conservative literary and cultural magazine Quadrant said that “MONA is the art of the exhausted, of a decaying civilisation. Display lights and taste and stunning effects illuminate moral bankruptcy. What is highlighted melds perfectly with contemporary high fashion, design, architecture, cinema. It is expensive and tense decay.”‘ I listened to a discussion about the finances of UK football teams recently: the big teams are all vanity trips for zillionaires. I suppose a free society needs to let people become so-rich but, if it does, those societies should help the ‘poor things’ put their money into good projects eg space telescopes.
Re the Crystal Palace (which, I think, has a football team in need of a zillionaire) it does not have very good road links or rail links or tourist attractions so it is not a prime area for the conference trade.

I am sure there are no shortage of alternative accommodation options for less wealthy conference delegates in London, and perhaps nearby in Crystal Palace?

There are many commercial art galleries in London. They appear to be profitable enterprises but the profit comes from sales, not from entry fees. There are also a number of large art fairs (eg Frieze ) which get their profit partly from entry fees and partly from exhibitor fees. I can’t see this working for the New Crystal Palace and if this is the idea recommend the alternative of setting up a charitable foundation to honour the name Ni for generations to come – as the founder of a sugar company did with his Tate Gallery.
Conferences seem to be a good business model but the venue needs to be in a part of town with good hotel provision. Wealthy delegates will be happy to stay in rooms on which the conference organiser is taking a profit but many other will want to stay in cheaper hotels.
Ni is an old Chinese family name (dating at least from the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 BC) but is not nearly as well-known as Wang, Zhang and Li. So this could be a golden opportunity to put Ni on the world map, especially if there were Ni Crystal Palaces in four corners of the globe. We could have a book on Ni Crystal Palaces to See Before You Die.

A precedent at a much smaller scale is Brisbane’s Powerhouse Museum contains the [ http://www.brisbanetramwaymuseum.org/images_elect_hist/nf_now.jpg ] and is described as “contemporary multi-arts, dining and conference venue.” It is located by the river in New Farm Park.

If a boutique hotel was incorporated sensitively this could also potentially work well. [ http://www.pieronesydneyharbour.com.au/wp-content/uploads/banner-page-hotel.jpg ] I am not saying it needs to be ‘Ye olde worlde’ but rather should not upstage its venue/location (ie the Harbour Bridge and Opera House).